Yorgen Fenech, one of Malta’s wealthiest businessmen, has been acquitted of masterminding the 2017 car-bomb murder of investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia.
A nine-member jury found the 44-year-old not guilty on both charges he faced — complicity in voluntary homicide and criminal association — by an eight-to-one majority after a trial lasting 55 sitting days.
Prosecutors had alleged that Fenech commissioned and financed the killing, paying €150,000 to intermediary Melvin Theuma to arrange the assassination. Fenech denied the accusations and walked free from the law courts in Valletta after the verdict.
Caruana Galizia, 53, was killed on October 16, 2017, when a bomb planted beneath the driver’s seat of her car exploded as she drove away from her home near Bidnija.
The journalist had reported extensively on suspected corruption involving Malta’s political and business elite, including companies linked to Fenech. Her murder triggered mass protests, a political crisis and the eventual resignation of then-prime minister Joseph Muscat.
Members of Caruana Galizia’s family wept as the verdict was delivered. Her sister, Corinne Vella, said the acquittal sent a message that journalists could be killed with impunity, while the family said the decision denied Daphne “the justice she deserves”.
The prosecution is expected to appeal. Fenech’s lawyers said the jury had rejected the evidence of Theuma, who was granted a presidential pardon in exchange for testifying against him.
During the trial, Fenech claimed that Keith Schembri, Mr Muscat’s former chief of staff, was the real mastermind and that he had acted only as an intermediary. Mr Schembri denied any involvement in the murder and has not been charged.
Five other men have been convicted in connection with the killing. Vince Muscat pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 15 years in prison, while brothers Alfred and George Degiorgio received 40-year terms after admitting their roles. Robert Agius and Jamie Vella, who supplied the explosives, were sentenced to life imprisonment.
An independent public inquiry concluded in 2021 that the Maltese state bore responsibility for creating a culture of impunity that contributed to the journalist’s murder. Her acquittal leaves no one convicted of ordering the assassination.
