Robert Aquilina seeks police protection

In a letter to police commissioner Angelo Gafà and prime minister Robert Abela, signed by lawyer Therese Comodini Cachia, Aquilina called for sufficient protection.

This was needed in order to secure his ability to exercise his right to freedom of expression without fear, harassment, or threats.

“Harassment and dehumanisation of Dr Aquilina consistently takes place on media platforms, including social media, seeking to isolate him and to portray him as the enemy or the traitor of government”, Comodini Cachia wrote.

The authorities seemed only willing to protect Aquilina when there was clear evidence of a real and immediate risk of a specific attack on his life, she said.

Comodini Cachia warned that, effectively, “the authorities would only be willing to protect Aquilina when the knife is already metaphorically at his throat”.

A number of police officers had shared their concern about the safety of Robert Aquilina and his family, who had also been targeted in threatening letters, she wrote.

Two weeks ago, activist and author Aquilina presented his book ‘Pilatus: A Laundromat Bank in Europe‘, alleging a “cover-up” of the persecution of top officials of the shuttered bank.

Repubblika: ‘Remember Daphne inquiry findings’

Civil society group Repubblika said in a separate statement that it was a shame that its president Robert Aquilina had to publicly plead for police protection.

“Robert Abela and Angelo Gafà should remember the public inquiry into the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia, which held Joseph Muscat and Lawrence Cutajar among others responsible for her murder, when they left her without protection in a context of demonisation and impunity for the criminals she exposed”, the group said.

Update 14:30 | In a similar statement, the Nationalist Party said “no one should feel insecure because he reveals what is happening in the country”.