Acquittal of Maltese tycoon spotlights global rise in journalist impunity

A Maltese business tycoon was found not guilty of complicity and criminal association in the 2017 car-bomb assassination of anti-corruption journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, a ruling that her sister warned could embolden attacks on the press. The episode illustrates the broader trend detailed in the June Atlas of Impunity, compiled by Eurasia Group and supported by the Thomson one outlet Foundation. The Atlas identifies deteriorating press freedom as the chief catalyst for rising impunity over the past five years, with conflict zones such as Syria, Afghanistan, Myanmar and Sudan experiencing the steepest accountability declines.

Countries without active wars, notably China and the Central Asian republics, also rank among the worst for press freedom, mirroring high impunity scores. Afghanistan’s Taliban regime has imposed draconian speech restrictions since 2021, prompting most journalists to abandon the field, while Kyrgyzstan has enacted “misinformation” laws to silence independent media. The report further warns that shrinking foreign aid for media and civil-society organizations creates information gaps that amplify the global impact of unchecked power.