Jury acquits Maltese business tycoon in the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia
A businessman accused of orchestrating the killing of Maltese journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia has been found not guilty on all charges.
Yorgen Fenech, the heir to a multimillion-euro property empire, was cleared Wednesday after a Maltese jury returned an 8-1 verdict in his favor. The prosecution is expected to appeal the verdict.
Indicted in 2019, Fenech faced charges of complicity and criminal association to commit murder.
The trial
began in Valletta, Malta’s capital, on July 1 after years of procedural delays and was being closely watched by press freedom advocates.
“We are beyond outraged,” Pavol Szalai, director of the Prague bureau of Reporters Without Borders, wrote in a statement. “The verdict means that almost nine years since the assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia, the Maltese authorities have failed to identify and convict the mastermind.”
Caruana Galizia was killed in October 2017 when a bomb placed in her car was detonated remotely. She had been working on stories based on the Panama Papers, including an investigation into alleged links between offshore business deals and Maltese politicians. At the time of her death, she was investigating a controversial power station deal involving Fenech.
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