Malta court acquits Yorgen Fenech in journalist murder case
A court in Malta acquitted businessman Yorgen Fenech, who had been accused of ordering the murder of investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia in 2017. After eight hours of deliberations, the jury acquitted him on two charges by a majority of eight votes to one.
As Cyprus Mail reports, citing Reuters, the trial of 44-year-old Fenech lasted two months. He was charged with complicity in murder and participation in a criminal organization with the aim of murder. If convicted, he could have faced life imprisonment.
Reactions after the verdict
After the decision was announced in the packed courtroom in Valletta, members of Fenech's family shouted with joy, while Caruana Galizia's relatives cried. Fenech himself did not comment on the verdict as he left the courthouse under heightened police protection. People in the crowd shouted insults at him.
The journalist's family said that nine years after her murder, the institutional failures that, in its view, enabled the crime have still not been addressed or reformed. The statement stressed that the country failed to protect Daphne Caruana Galizia's life and must prevent further deaths.
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Prosecution and defense
Daphne Caruana Galizia died in October 2017 at the age of 53. Her murder triggered a political crisis in Malta and drew international attention to the country's police and judicial system.
Three men were previously convicted of directly carrying out the murder, while two more were convicted of supplying the bomb. They are serving lengthy prison terms. The jury heard the version that Fenech, who was described as the alleged organizer of the conspiracy, allegedly wanted to kill the journalist because she was about to publish information about him.
Fenech denied the charges. During the trial, his defense pointed to Keith Schembri, Fenech's former close friend and former chief of staff to then Prime Minister Joseph Muscat. Police told the court that Schembri had never been a suspect, and he himself denied any involvement in the murder.
