Former MEP Cyrus Engerer has argued that this year’s Pride celebrations in Malta and Gozo cannot be separated from the country’s ongoing calls for justice following the latest developments in the Daphne Caruana Galizia murder case.Writing on Instagram ahead of Gozo Pride today, Engerer questioned whether joining the march following everything that happened this week could risk sending a message that Malta was simply carrying on with “business as usual”.His answer, however, was that he would still march.“I won’t be in Gozo and Malta for Pride this year, but if I were, I would have joined because Pride is not optional. But neither is justice,” Engerer wrote.“I know exactly what I’d wear: a t-shirt reading ‘No pride without justice’.”His comments come days after a jury acquitted Yorgen Fenech of complicity and criminal association in the 2017 assassination of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, a verdict which has triggered renewed debate over justice and accountability in Malta.Engerer argued that the fight for LGBTIQ rights and the questions surrounding Caruana Galizia’s assassination are not as disconnected as they may initially appear.“Daphne fought for equality and civil liberties long before her death turned her into a symbol of the fight against impunity,” he wrote.“Her murder was an attack on the same values that Pride exists to defend: the right to speak, to live openly, and to hold power to account without fear.”Engerer also stressed that Pride should not be viewed simply as a celebration, pointing towards its roots as a protest movement.“Pride was never just a celebration. It started as a protest and it remains one, against silence, against impunity, against the idea that some lives and some deaths matter less than others.”He concluded with a message to those attending Gozo Pride in Victoria today and Malta Pride in Valletta next week.“Wear your colours and carry the weight too,” he said. “Both belong on the same t-shirt.”What do you make of his comments?•