Maltese businessman Yorgen Fenech acquitted of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia's murder

A Maltese court has acquitted businessman Yorgen Fenech of the charges that he masterminded the 2017 car‑bomb killing of investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia. The 44‑year‑old was found not guilty on both counts of complicity and criminal conspiracy after a jury voted 8‑1 in his favour. Fenech had pleaded not guilty to the indictment brought in 2021 that alleged he ordered and paid for the murder.

Caruana Galizia, 53, was killed on 16 October 2017 when a bomb placed under the driver’s seat of her Peugeot 108 exploded as she drove away from her home in Bidnija, north Malta. A court later heard that the device was detonated remotely from an offshore yacht by a man observing the scene. The killing shocked Europe and prompted a political crisis in Malta.

In the subsequent investigation, brothers Alfred and George Degiorgio and Vincent Muscat were charged with murder. Fenech was detained by armed forces while attempting to leave the island aboard his luxury yacht before dawn. The trial also examined the involvement of government officials, though chief of staff Keith Schembri, who resigned amid the scandal, was not named as a suspect during the proceedings.

Following the verdict, Caruana Galizia’s relatives wept in a packed Valletta courtroom. The family posted a statement on Facebook saying the decision denied the “justice she deserves” and underscored that nine years after the assassination, “institutional failures that enabled her murder remain unaddressed and unreformed.” They called for reforms to ensure that no one faces similar risks in the future.

The murder had previously led to the resignation of Schembri and intensified protests that forced Prime Minister Joseph Muscat to announce his intention to step down. Muscat, who denied any wrongdoing, is not related to Vincent Muscat, one of the men charged in the case. The acquittal of Fenech adds a new chapter to a saga that continues to draw international scrutiny of Malta’s police and judiciary.