Maltese tycoon acquitted of orchestrating murder of renowned journalist

What the report says

A Maltese court has acquitted businessman Yorgen Fenech in the trial over the killing of investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, according to BBC World News. Fenech had faced charges of complicity in murder and criminal association to commit murder, but a jury cleared him by an 8-1 vote after several hours of deliberation in Valletta. He denied the allegations throughout the case.

Caruana Galizia, one of Malta’s best-known reporters, had built an international profile through investigations into corruption, money laundering and organized crime. She was killed by a car bomb in October 2017 at the age of 53, an attack that triggered public anger and protests across Malta. Her reporting also played a role in scrutiny linked to the Panama Papers revelations and allegations involving senior figures in Maltese public life.

The verdict does not change earlier convictions in the case. BBC World News noted that two brothers, George and Alfred Degiorgio, were jailed in 2022 for the murder, and that two other men were later given life sentences for supplying the bomb. Caruana Galizia’s family said the institutions that failed to protect her remain unreformed. The case continues to matter in Malta because it has become a test of accountability, press freedom and the wider response to corruption.