A Court Verdict in the Death of Daphne Caruana Galizia
A jury in Malta acquitted businessman Yorgen Fenech on Wednesday of charges related to the 2017 car bomb killing of investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia. The verdict closes the primary trial against Fenech, who faced accusations of masterminding the assassination. He entered a plea of not guilty to both conspiracy and complicity charges. Following the decision, he left the Valletta courtroom without speaking to the media.
Caruana Galizia, 53, died on October 16, 2017, when a bomb detonated inside her vehicle near her home. Her death became a defining event in the history of the Mediterranean nation. She spent her career probing corruption within the country's business and political sectors. At the time of the explosion, she was managing more than 40 libel suits. These cases often targeted individuals connected to the administration of then-Prime Minister Joseph Muscat.
Impact on the Maltese State
The fallout from the killing triggered widespread protests across the island. Demonstrators demanded accountability for what they described as a breakdown in the rule of law. Pressure from the public eventually caused the resignation of Prime Minister Joseph Muscat in 2019. An independent inquiry into the death concluded in 2021 that the state itself held responsibility for the assassination because of a culture of impunity at the top levels of government.
Fenech had been a target of the journalist's reporting. He belonged to a consortium that secured a government contract to construct a power station. Law enforcement arrested him in 2019 while he attempted to flee the country on his yacht. The acquittal marks a departure from the results of previous cases where other individuals were found guilty for their roles in the conspiracy. The family of Caruana Galizia expressed their disappointment in a public statement, arguing that the outcome denied her the justice she deserved. They pointed out that nine years later, the systemic failures that allowed her murder remain unaddressed.
The Legal Context of the Case
The legal proceedings in Malta regarding the murder have involved several different individuals. In 2022, brothers George and Alfred Degiorgio pleaded guilty to carrying out the bombing. A court sentenced each of them to 40 years in prison. Two other men, Jamie Vella and Robert Agius, received life sentences in 2025 for their roles in supplying the explosives. Vincent Muscat, another man involved in the plot, entered a guilty plea in 2021 and received a 15-year prison sentence.
Melvin Theuma, a taxi driver who functioned as the middleman in the scheme, received a presidential pardon in 2019. This deal required him to provide testimony against the other conspirators. The case against Fenech was the final trial in this series of prosecutions. Despite the guilty verdicts for the hitmen and suppliers, the acquittal of the alleged mastermind leaves a significant gap in the narrative of accountability. Observers remain concerned about the state of justice in the European Union's smallest member nation. The family emphasizes that the country owes it to the victim to prevent future violence against journalists and to reform the institutions that failed to protect her.