Yorgen Fenech acquitted in Malta over Daphne Caruana Galizia murder
A Maltese jury has acquitted businessman Yorgen Fenech, accused of orchestrating the assassination of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia in 2017. The family denounces a "denial of justice".
Alleged mastermind of Daphne Caruana Galizia murder cleared by Maltese jury
A Maltese court on Wednesday announced the acquittal of Yorgen Fenech, the businessman accused of orchestrating the 2017 assassination of investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia. According to Le Temps, the jury deliberated for more than eight hours before reaching its verdict, by eight votes to one, in favour of the businessman's innocence. The journalist's family immediately denounced a "denial of justice".
Fenech was accused of commissioning the car bomb attack that killed Caruana Galizia, who was 53 years old at the time, near her home. This assassination sent shockwaves through Malta and triggered condemnations on the international scale.
A businessman with political connections
The businessman was arrested in late 2019 aboard his yacht as he attempted to leave Maltese territory. He has consistently denied commissioning the murder. According to the indictment, he allegedly ordered the journalist's elimination because she was about to publish a damaging article about one of his associates.
Fenech had secured a multi-million euro contract with the Maltese state in 2013 for the construction of a gas-fired power station. Caruana Galizia, for her part, led the Maltese investigations into the Panama Papers and uncovered scandals involving several associates of the prime minister at the time, Joseph Muscat.
Muscat himself was forced to resign in late 2019 — his resignation taking effect in early 2020 — under pressure from daily protests after being accused of interfering in the investigation into the murder and protecting collaborators involved.
Partial convictions, but the mastermind still without sentence
Whilst Fenech's acquittal closes the main part of the trial, several convictions have already been handed down in this case. In October 2022, two brothers were found guilty of fabricating, placing and detonating the bomb and sentenced to 40 years in prison each. In June 2025, two other men were sentenced to life imprisonment for supplying the explosive used in the attack.
Despite these verdicts, the question of who commissioned the murder remains, in the eyes of the family and press freedom advocates, without satisfactory judicial resolution.
"The justice that Daphne deserved"
In a statement issued immediately after the verdict, the family of Daphne Caruana Galizia expressed their dismay. "Yorgen Fenech has been acquitted of the brutal assassination of Daphne, nine years after she was killed, denying her the justice she deserves. We remain grateful to all those who worked to ensure that Fenech was brought to justice," it stated.
The family also called upon Maltese institutions: "This day should have been Daphne's. Our dreams and hers were shattered when she was assassinated outside our family home, at only 53 years of age. It is high time that all those who allowed, facilitated or protected her killers are held accountable."
Its statement concluded with a warning: "Nine years after Daphne's brutal assassination, the institutional failures that made her murder possible have still not been addressed or corrected. Our country failed to protect Daphne's life. It must, out of respect for her, prevent other lives from being lost."
Reporters Without Borders denounces failure of Maltese justice
The NGO Reporters Without Borders (RSF) reacted with equal severity. "We are more than outraged. This verdict means that, nearly nine years after the assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia, Maltese authorities have still failed to identify or convict the person who commissioned the murder," the organisation stated.
RSF called on Malta to learn lessons from this case: "Justice must be fully served and Maltese authorities must implement measures that have been expected for far too long to protect journalists and press freedom. The absence of these measures contributed to the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia, as concluded by the public inquiry conducted into this crime five years ago."
Source: Le Temps