Maltese court clears tycoon of masterminding journalist's murder
The killing of Caruana Galizia in October 2017 shocked Europe and set off a political firestorm in Malta as well as focusing international attention on its police and judiciary.
Daphne Caruana Galizia was killed by a car bomb in 2017. ( AP: Jon Borg )
A Maltese court has cleared businessman Yorgen Fenech of commissioning the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia almost 10 years ago.
Five people have been convicted of their involvement in the 53-year-old journalist's death.
Galizia exposed high-level corruption in the country, leading to personal attacks by politicians that a 2021 judicial report found created a "favourable climate" for her assassination.
A Maltese court has acquitted tycoon Yorgen Fenech of orchestrating the brutal murder in 2017 of investigative reporter, which brought down a government and drew global condemnation.
The wealthy businessman was accused of masterminding the car-bomb killing of 53-year-old Daphne Caruana Galizia.
Caruana Galizia's family said in a statement that Fenech's acquittal was "denying her the justice she deserves".
The "one-woman WikiLeaks" exposed corruption at the highest level in the country, shining a spotlight on murky links between Malta's business and political elites.
Yorgen Fenech has been acquitted of ordering the investigative reporter's killing. ( Reuters: Darrin Zammit Lupi )
Her killing sparked outrage around the world and put Malta, the European Union's smallest member state, in the spotlight for its apparent rule-of-law failings.
It also led to the resignation of then-premier Joseph Muscat in January 2020 amid mass protests over his perceived efforts to protect friends and allies from the investigation.
A two-year public inquiry published in July 2021 concluded that the state should "shoulder responsibility" for the murder due to the "atmosphere of impunity" the government had created.
Fenech, a tycoon whose business interests spanned the energy and tourism sectors, was arrested on his yacht in 2019 as he tried to sail out of Malta after a middleman in the murder was offered a pardon to identify those involved.
Daphne Caruana Galizia's murder sparked outrage across Europe. ( Lena Klimkeit/dpa via Getty Images )
Prosecutors accused Fenech of ordering the journalist to be killed because she was on the brink of publishing a compromising article about his uncle.
Five people have been convicted so far for supplying the explosives and carrying out the killing.
In June 2025, Robert Agius and Jamie Vella were convicted of supplying the bomb that killed Caruana Galizia and sentenced to life in prison.
Brothers George and Alfred Degiorgio, along with Vince Muscat, are serving prison sentences after being found guilty of carrying out the murder.
The 437-page report written by a panel of three judges in 2021 found that the state had shirked its duty to protect Caruana Galizia and subjected her to personal attacks and verbal abuse from politicians.
The atmosphere created a "favourable climate" for her assassination, the report found.
It also said there was "convincing evidence" that her killers knew they would be protected by "persons in the highest state positions".