Acquittal for Fenech: murder of journalist Caruana Galizia remains unsolved as to who ordered it
Maltese businessman Yorgen Fenech was unexpectedly acquitted. Who ordered the bomb attack on Daphne Caruana Galizia in 2017 remains unclear.
Acquittal shakes investigation into attack on Caruana Galizia
Eight to one: with this clear vote, a jury acquitted Maltese businessman Yorgen Fenech on Wednesday on all charges. As Google News CH — Crime (de) reports, Fenech left the courtroom as a free man — almost nine years after the bomb attack on investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia.
Caruana Galizia died in October 2017 when a bomb exploded in her car. The Maltese journalist had persistently investigated links between the political and economic elite of her homeland and organised crime until her final days — and spared neither influential businessmen nor the government nor the opposition in her reporting.
The bombers and their accomplices were indeed caught and convicted. In total, five people have so far been found guilty in this connection. However, the central question — who ordered the murder — remained unresolved to this day.
Fenech was considered the prime suspect from the outset. The wealthy businessman was repeatedly at the centre of Caruana Galizia's revelations; moreover, he was directly implicated as the person who ordered the crime by one of those directly involved in the act. Fenech consistently denied the allegations and in turn accused a close confidant of former Prime Minister Joseph Muscat.
The family of the slain journalist expressed disappointment with the verdict and condemned the lack of rule of law in Malta. They accuse the social democratic government of deliberately failing to strengthen the judiciary and the rule of law in recent years. International observers share this assessment and point to a deeply rooted culture of impunity in the smallest EU member state.
The verdict once again shines a light on a justice system that has been criticised for years for inefficiency and lack of independence from politics. The prosecution can still challenge the decision. However, as time passes, the memories of witnesses fade — and with them, the prospect of ever definitively clarifying who ordered the fatal attack on Caruana Galizia and Maltese press freedom.
Source: Google News CH — Crime (de)