Several Yorgen Fenech Trial Jurors Arrested Over Pre-Trial Social Media Posts
Three or four jurors from the Yorgen Fenech murder trial were arrested Thursday and questioned over social media posts and a phone allegedly switched on during proceedings.
Jurors held over oath and social media concerns
Three or four jurors who sat on the nine-member panel in the Yorgen Fenech trial were arrested on Thursday morning and taken to the Financial Crimes Investigation Department for questioning, maltatoday.com.mt reports.
In a statement issued Thursday night, police confirmed that the investigation centres on the oath taken by jurors before the trial began — specifically, public comments the jurors allegedly made prior to proceedings, "and not on some theory or other allegation." Three of those arrested have since been released on police bail.
According to MaltaToday, the probe focuses on social media posts made by the jurors years before the trial started, as well as one juror's phone that was allegedly switched on at some point during the proceedings.
Fenech was acquitted on both counts in the bill of indictment in the assassination of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia a fortnight ago. On the first count — complicity in the wilful homicide of Caruana Galizia — the jury returned a not-guilty verdict by eight votes to one. The same eight-to-one split was recorded on the second count, which concerned association with persons for the purpose of committing a crime in Malta.
MaltaToday had previously revealed exclusively that the prosecution is expected to appeal the verdict, seeking a retrial on grounds relating to the jury trial process itself. The appeal would be decided by three judges, and the Attorney General's office is required to file within a 15-working-day window from the date of the verdict.
On Thursday, Nationalist MEP David Casa announced that the Attorney General's office had confirmed his request for a perjury investigation into Yorgen Fenech had been forwarded to the police commissioner "for the necessary investigation."
Casa's request centres on testimony Fenech gave under oath in which he described Electrogas and 17 Black as entirely unrelated — "apples and oranges," in Fenech's own words. In his letter, Casa pointed to what he called an apparent contradiction between that testimony and documentary and financial evidence concerning 17 Black, its ownership, alleged intended payments to companies belonging to senior government officials, and the links between those arrangements and Electrogas.
Caruana Galizia was killed by a car bomb in October 2017. Nine years later, the mastermind behind the murder has not been brought to justice.
Source: Lovin Malta