Malta: Businessman Yorgen Fenech on trial for journalist's murder
Yorgen Fenech stands trial in Valletta for ordering the 2017 car-bomb killing of investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia.
Malta: Businessman Yorgen Fenech on trial for journalist's murder
The trial of Yorgen Fenech, a wealthy Maltese businessman accused of masterminding the 2017 assassination of investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, opened on Wednesday in Valletta. The case, which has drawn intense European attention, marks the final judicial chapter in a saga that has already seen five co-defendants convicted.
Fenech faces two charges: complicity in premeditated homicide and participation in a criminal organization. Prosecutors allege that the 53-year-old tycoon ordered and financed the car-bomb attack that killed Caruana Galizia on October 16, 2017, near her home in the village of Bidnija. The general prosecutor has requested a life sentence for the murder charge and an additional 20 to 30 years for the criminal association count.
Caruana Galizia, a prominent blogger and newspaper columnist, was one of Malta's most recognizable media voices. Her reporting on government corruption and business ties had made her the target of repeated attacks from politicians and their allies. She was 53 when a powerful explosive device, hidden inside a children's shoebox and placed beneath the driver's seat, detonated as she drove away from her residence.
Investigators believe the hit cost 150,000 euros. The perpetrators had tracked the journalist's movements for weeks before the attack. Three men — brothers George and Alfred Degiorgio and their friend Vince Muscat — were arrested shortly after the bombing during a televised raid on a warehouse at Marsa port. They were later convicted.
The investigation initially stalled, but journalistic revelations linked businessman Fenech and a self-described taxi driver intermediary, Melvin Theuma, to the crime. Theuma, who has lived under witness protection since 2019, is expected to testify that Fenech both ordered and paid for the murder. He was arrested in November 2019 carrying an ice-cream box containing USB recordings of conversations with Fenech, which prosecutors intend to use as evidence.
Fenech's defense has repeatedly challenged the fairness of proceedings, arguing that intense publicity has compromised his right to a fair trial. The businessman was released on bail in February 2025 under strict conditions, including a substantial financial guarantee and property bonds worth tens of millions of euros. The start of the trial had been kept secret until the last moment due to strict reporting restrictions.
The murder triggered a deep political and constitutional crisis in Malta. A public inquiry requested by the victim's family concluded that the state had allowed a "culture of impunity" to develop, creating "favorable conditions" for the assassination. Then-prime minister Joseph Muscat, who had announced that Theuma had received a presidential pardon in exchange for information, resigned in December 2019.
Fenech denies all charges.
Source: News 24/7
Source: Google News GR — Crime (el)