Dunja Mijatovic, the Council of Europe’s Commissioner for Human Rights, has called in a letter on the Maltese authorities to lift the libel charges against journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, who died in a car bomb attack in 2017.
These proceedings, which correspond to some thirty cases, were transferred to her heirs and, in their defence, they “may have to reveal information about her journalistic work and sources”. In Malta, the burden of proof is on the accused in defamation cases.