Malta: IFJ condemns verdict in Daphne Caruana Galizia assassination trial
One of Malta's richest men has been found not guilty of involvement in the murder of investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia.
On 2 September, Yorgen Fenech was found not guilty of both charges: complicity in her murder and association with the intention of committing a crime.
Galizia was murdered on 16 October 2017 by a car bomb in the town of Bidnija, near her family home. Her work focused on investigating financial corruption, involving significant political figures in Malta. She had also investigated the Panama Papers scandal.
Fenech is a tycoon linked to both the Maltese mafia and politicians. He had been accused by prosecutors of paying €150,000 to Melvin Theuma, a middle man, to have Galizia killed.
Fenech, Konrad Mizzi, the former energy minister, and Keith Schembri, the prime minister's chief staff, are also charged with bribery and corruption in financial cases that Galizia had been investigating. During the two-month trial, witnesses claimed that Schembri had repeatedly leaked sensitive information to Fenech.
The judgment was delivered after only eight hours of deliberation and will be appealed. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) described the verdict as “heavy blow not only for the victim’s family, but also for journalists’ organisations, press freedom NGOs and anti-corruption activists.”
In 2021, Galizia’s family fought for an independent public inquiry, which concluded that the Maltese state must shoulder responsibility for Galizia's murder. Yet most of the recommendations resulting from the inquiry have not been implemented.
The NUJ joins the IFJ in condemning the failure to convict those responsible for orchestrating Galizia's murder and calling for the judgment to be overturned.
Anthony Bellanger, IFJ general secretary, said:
"The outcome of this trial is a profound affront to justice and to the memory of Daphne Caruana Galizia. Her murder was an attack on not only a courageous journalist, but also on the fundamental principles of truth, accountability and the rule of law. We must continue to demand that the masterminds responsible for her assassination be held fully accountable, and that those who seek to silence journalists through violence are never allowed to do so with impunity.”
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