Maltese businessman Yorgen Fenech acquitted in Daphne Caruana Galizia murder trial
A Maltese jury found businessman Yorgen Fenech not guilty of complicity and conspiracy in the 2017 car bomb killing of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, ending the last pending prosecution related to the case.
A jury in Valletta on Wednesday acquitted Yorgen Fenech, a prominent Maltese businessman, of the charges of complicity and criminal conspiracy linked to the 2017 car bomb that killed investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia. Prosecutors had alleged that Fenech acted as the mastermind, ordering and financing the attack. He pleaded not guilty and was found not guilty on both counts, becoming the final defendant among a group of six people charged in the plot.
Caruana Galizia, 53, was killed on Oct. 16, 2017 while driving near her home. Her reporting had focused on alleged corruption involving political figures and business leaders, including members of then-Prime Minister Joseph Muscat’s inner circle, and she faced more than 40 libel suits at the time of her death.
The verdict was announced as the family of the slain journalist posted a statement on Facebook, saying the decision denied Caruana Galizia the justice she deserves and that institutional failures that enabled her murder remain unaddressed. Her sons, who were present in the courtroom, left without comment.
Fenech’s arrest in 2019, after he fled Malta on his yacht, had sparked mass protests that eventually led to Muscat’s resignation. After the acquittal, Fenech exited the courtroom to a crowd of hecklers and entered a waiting vehicle without speaking.
Previous convictions in the case include two brothers who pleaded guilty to carrying out the bombing and received 40-year sentences, and two other men sentenced to life imprisonment for supplying the bomb. A separate participant received a presidential pardon in exchange for testimony.