a. Freedom of Expression, Including for Members of the Press and Other Media
The constitution and law provide for freedom of expression, including for members of the press and other media, and the government generally respected this right.
Violence and Harassment: In 2017 police charged three persons with the murder of investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia in a car bombing near her home that same year. On February 23, one of the accused, Vince Muscat, pled guilty to all charges, including murder, and was sentenced to 15 years’ imprisonment and ordered to pay court expenses. The other two charged, brothers Alfred and George Degiorgio, pled guilty to all charges on the day their trial began, October 14, and were sentenced to 40 years in prison.
In August 2021, prosecutors filed a bill of indictment charging business magnate Yorgen Fenech with the murder of Galizia. Fenech entered a not guilty plea. In 2019, police arrested Fenech as a “person of interest” in the killing, charging him with criminal conspiracy, being an accomplice in Galizia’s murder, and conspiring to commit murder. Fenech denied the charges. The compilation of evidence continued at year’s end (see section 4, Corruption and Lack of Transparency in Government).
Censorship or Content Restrictions for Members of the Press and Other Media, Including Online Media: Members of the press and civil society expressed concerns regarding the impact of defamation lawsuits on journalistic freedom and the editorial independence of media (see Libel/Slander Laws, below).
In February Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, Dunja Mijatovic published a report on her visit to the country in October 2021. The report expressed concern with the “excessive use of vexatious lawsuits against journalists and newspapers.”
In a judgment on July 14, the Civil Court found the Broadcasting Authority (BA), which serves as the broadcasting watchdog and regulator, and the national broadcaster, Public Broadcasting Services Limited (PBS), to be in breach of the constitution. The court found that the BA had failed to ensure impartiality in its coverage of issues of political controversy and failed to act expeditiously when PBS challenged or failed to follow the BA’s orders regarding television coverage. As a result, the court found the defendants to be in breach of the human rights of the plaintiff, the opposition Nationalist Party (PN), to freedom of expression and nondiscrimination. The courts ordered the defendants to each pay €1,500 ($1,605) in damages to the PN. The BA appealed the sentence, and the appeal was underway at year’s end.
Libel/Slander Laws: The law criminalizes libel and slander. Print and broadcast journalists faced government lawsuits intended to harass and intimidate them. At the time of her death, Caruana Galizia faced more than 40 civil and criminal defamation suits due to her investigative reporting and commentary on public figures linking them to acts of corruption and other malfeasance.
Internet Freedom
The government did not restrict or disrupt access to the internet or censor online content, and there were no credible reports the government monitored private online communications without appropriate legal authority.
b. Freedoms of Peaceful Assembly and Association
The constitution and law provide for the freedoms of peaceful assembly and association, and the government generally respected these rights.
d. Freedom of Movement and the Right to Leave the Country
The law provides for freedom of internal movement, foreign travel, emigration, and repatriation, and the government generally respected these related rights.
e. Protection of Refugees
The government cooperated with the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees and other humanitarian organizations in providing protection and assistance to refugees, returning refugees, asylum seekers, or stateless persons, as well as other persons of concern.
Access to Asylum: The law provides for the granting of asylum or refugee status, and the government has established a system for providing protection to refugees.
Abuse of Migrants and Refugees: In October three police officers were arraigned on two different occasions, facing charges including abduction, inhuman treatment, and grievously injuring migrants.
Freedom of Movement: The government may legally detain an asylum applicant for up to nine months. By law the detention must serve to verify the applicant’s identity or nationality; identify elements on which the asylum application is based; decide on the applicant’s legal right to enter the country; facilitate a return procedure, including to another EU country; or protect national security or public order.
In some cases, immigration authorities may allow alternatives to detention, limited to nine months’ duration, which may include regular reporting to an assigned place, residing at an assigned place, or depositing documents or a surety.
Immigration officers may also legally detain irregular migrants (including failed asylum seekers) who are subject to repatriation. Such detention may have a duration of six months and may be extended by a further 12 months.
Persons permitted to remain in the country were issued work permits. They were eligible for voluntary repatriation programs, but few individuals chose to participate.
NGOs criticized the government’s approach to the rescue of seaborne migrants, mostly from North Africa. NGOs accused the government of preventing these migrants from reaching the country’s search and rescue area and of coordinating with the European Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex), Italy, and Libya to return to Libya, where they faced security and human rights threats, migrants rescued in Libya’s search and rescue area. Three NGOs, the Dutch Uprights, French Adala for All, and Italian StraLi, filed a legal communication with the International Criminal Court in January accusing Libya, Italy, and Malta of crimes against humanity due to their treatment of migrants returned to Libya.
In a February report, the EU commissioner for human rights called on the authorities “to ensure adequate rescue capacities in the country’s search and rescue region, enhance the effective coordination of rescue operations, and effectively investigate any allegations of omissions to provide immediate assistance to persons in distress at sea.” The report also noted as a “grave concern” the government’s “continued cooperation with the Libyan authorities to curb irregular migration.” The report also called on authorities to “take immediate measures to avoid arbitrary detention of asylum seekers and migrants, to invest in alternatives to immigration detention, improve safeguards against the detention of vulnerable persons, and to ensure that any detention of children is immediately ended.” In September, the EU approved €52 million ($55.6 million) for the country’s plan to spend on migration-related projects.
In September 1,000 persons and organizations, including former President Marie Louise Coleiro Preca, signed an open letter to the attorney general to demand charges of terrorism-related offenses against three African youths be dropped. The 2019 case involved the rescue of seaborne migrants by the El Hiblu 1 tanker. If found guilty, the youths would face up to 30 years in prison. They were held in preventive custody for several months before being released on bail in 2019.
Also in September, police arraigned two foreign nationals on human smuggling charges of seaborne migrants.
Durable Solutions: Few refugees can become naturalized citizens. While persons with refugee status may apply for reunification with family outside the country, those with temporary “subsidiary” protection – most asylum seekers – are not allowed to do so. From January to September, 30 migrants sought assisted voluntary return. According to several NGOs, integration efforts continued to move slowly, since migrants generally tended to stay close to reception centers, although some moved into the community. Many migrants found work, mostly in low-skill sectors.
Temporary Protection: The government also provided temporary protection, known as “subsidiary” protection, to individuals who may not qualify as refugees. From January to November, 88 persons were given subsidiary protection status.