The Independent A prominent journalist who played a major role in the Panama Papers case has been killed in Malta.
Daphne Caruana Galizia, whose investigative work focused on corruption, was killed when a car bomb blew her vehicle to pieces.
A politician said her death marked the “collapse of the rule of law” in Malta, the smallest in the European Union.
Tributes to Galizia poured in on Monday evening, as thousands of Maltese gathered in the streets for a candlelight vigil to the reporter.
Galizia is believed to have just published the last post on her widely read blog, Running Commentary, just before leaving her house Mosta, a town outside the capital Valletta.
“There are crooks everywhere you look now,” she had written, “the situation is desperate.”
Soon after driving away in her Peugeot 108, Galizia’s vehicle exploded with such force it was sent flying over a wall and into a field.
Galizia reported death threats against her to the police just over two weeks ago, according to local media.
Her in-depth reporting made her many enemies, including the Prime Minister, opposition politicians and members of the judiciary.
She was described as a “one-woman Wikileaks” by Politico and her blog sometimes achieved a larger readership than all the other newspapers in Malta combined.
The death was described as a “political murder” by opposition leader Adrian Delia.