Yorgen Fenech acquitted in Daphne Caruana Galizia murder case: appeal forthcoming
Maltese tycoon Yorgen Fenech has been acquitted of all charges in the trial over the murder of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia. The prosecution has announced an appeal against the verdict.
Fenech acquitted in Malta: partial impunity in the Caruana Galizia murder case
Google News IT — Crime (it) reports that on 2 September, Maltese tycoon Yorgen Fenech was acquitted by a jury of all involvement in the murder of investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, who was killed in 2017 by a car bomb. The jury in Valletta reached its decision on the first day of deliberations, after just eight hours of deliberation, by a vote of 8 to 1, clearing Fenech of both charges of murder and criminal association. The prosecution immediately announced its intention to appeal.
Partners of the Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR) expressed dismay at the outcome of the proceedings. After a trial lasting months and a campaign spanning nine years to ensure that all those responsible would answer for their actions, justice for Caruana Galizia's death appears, according to the organisations that have followed the case, to have been further delayed.
The verdict, in their view, represents a serious obstacle not only in the Maltese case, but also in the global fight against impunity for the murder of journalists. In a case that has become symbolic of the defence of press freedom and the rule of law in Malta, the acquittal leaves numerous unresolved questions open.
The trial against Fenech has brought to light the possible involvement of other figures of power, including former officials. The MFRR organisations emphasise that the acquittal does not exhaust the authorities' obligation to establish who planned, commissioned and made possible the murder. Representatives of these organisations had travelled to Malta to attend the reading of the verdict and have reiterated their full support for the journalist's family and her legal team.
Caruana Galizia's family has underscored that, nine years after the attack, institutional shortcomings that enabled the crime also remain unresolved, in the absence of structural reforms. According to the organisations concerned, there can be no effective protection of press freedom whilst the murder of a journalist remains only partially clarified. The prosecution's appeal represents, for now, the only formal instrument still available to continue the search for the truth.
Source: Google News IT — Crime (it)