Malta jury acquits Yorgen Fenech in Daphne Caruana Galizia murder case
A Maltese jury found businessman Yorgen Fenech not guilty of both charges he faced over the 2017 killing of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia.
In short
- A Maltese jury found businessman Yorgen Fenech not guilty of both charges he faced over the 2017 killing of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia.
A jury in Malta has found businessman Yorgen Fenech not guilty of involvement in the 2017 car-bomb killing of investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia.
On September 2, 2026, the nine-member jury cleared Fenech of complicity in voluntary homicide and association with the intention of committing a crime. The verdicts were returned by an eight-to-one majority after a two-month trial. Prosecutors had alleged that Fenech paid €150,000 through an intermediary to arrange the killing and had sought a life sentence.
Fenech denied ordering or participating in the murder. His defence argued that investigators had not adequately pursued allegations involving Keith Schembri, a former chief of staff to then-prime minister Joseph Muscat. Schembri denied wrongdoing and denied involvement in leaks or the murder.
Caruana Galizia, 53, was killed in October 2017. Her anti-corruption reporting and death triggered a major political scandal in Malta and became a prominent press-freedom case across Europe. The prosecution is expected to appeal the acquittal.
