PEN International has warned that there is still “no justice” for the assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia following the acquittal of Yorgen Fenech, calling on Maltese authorities to urgently hold everyone responsible for her killing to account.In a statement issued jointly with PEN Malta today, the international writers’ and freedom of expression organisation described Wednesday’s verdict as “yet another blow” to the Caruana Galizia family’s years-long fight for justice.Fenech was found not guilty of complicity in Caruana Galizia’s assassination and criminal association following an eight-to-one jury verdict on both charges.Five people have so far received prison sentences in connection with the 2017 assassination, but nobody has been convicted of ordering the murder.PEN Malta President Kurt Borg issued a stark warning about what the continued absence of full accountability means for journalists working in Malta.“Daphne Caruana Galizia was murdered for doing journalism,” Borg said.“Every year that passes without a full, credible accounting of who ordered her killing, and without consequences for the state actors who enabled the conditions for it, is a renewed assault on her memory and on press freedom in Malta.”“It tells every journalist in this country what happens to those who investigate power here.”Caruana Galizia was assassinated by a car bomb shortly after leaving her Bidnija home on 16th October 2017. She was 53 years old.A landmark independent public inquiry subsequently concluded in 2021 that the Maltese State should bear responsibility for creating a culture of impunity which facilitated her assassination, and found that her killing was both predictable and preventable.PEN International and PEN Malta have now renewed calls for the government to fully implement the recommendations stemming from that inquiry, arguing that doing so is necessary to ensure journalists in Malta are effectively protected.Judyth Hill, chair of PEN International’s Women Writers Committee, meanwhile pledged the organisation’s continued solidarity with the Caruana Galizia family.“The PEN Community expresses full solidarity with Daphne Caruana Galizia’s family in their never-ending fight for justice,” she said.“Those who killed Daphne sought to silence her, yet her powerful legacy lives on.”Hill said PEN would continue honouring Caruana Galizia’s memory and “will not rest until full accountability for her murder and the corruption she died exposing has been achieved”.PEN International and its centres around the world have campaigned for justice over Caruana Galizia’s assassination for years, including through a poetry memorial created in tribute to her work and commitment to freedom of expression.The organisation’s intervention is the latest international reaction to Fenech’s acquittal, which has reignited questions surrounding accountability for the assassination almost nine years after Caruana Galizia was killed.What do you make of PEN International’s warning about press freedom in Malta?•