Seven years after the 2017 car-bomb assassination of investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, Maltese businessman Yorgen Fenech has finally appeared in a Valletta courtroom. The 44-year-old heir to a prominent property empire is accused of masterminding the murder, a development that follows years of legal delays and challenges. While five other individuals have already been convicted for their roles in the killing, Fenech is the seventh and final man to face trial.
Fenech was apprehended in 2019 aboard his yacht while allegedly attempting to flee Malta. The indictment identifies him as the orchestrator of the plot, charging him with complicity in homicide and criminal association. The attorney general is seeking a life sentence for the murder charge, alongside an additional 30 years for the criminal association count; Fenech maintains his innocence.
The proceedings nearly faced further disruption just days before the scheduled start. On June 25, Fenech filed a petition with the Constitutional Court, alleging that a listening device had been placed in a prison meeting room where he consulted with his legal team, thereby violating his right to a fair trial. Although the court agreed to review the complaint, it denied his request to halt the case, allowing jury selection to commence on July 1.
Selecting the jury proved to be a grueling five-hour process, complicated by intense media scrutiny and challenging conditions. This process itself proved difficult due to concern over the possible impact of intense media interest and its potential impact on the panel. The two sides took five hours to agree on jurors and officials had to intervene after one reserve juror fainted as temperatures climbed to 33°C. Under the requirements of Maltese law, the selected jurors will be sequestered for the duration of the trial, prohibited from using electronic devices such as phones, computers, or smartwatches, and housed in a hotel.
According to the indictment, Fenech approached his associate, taxi driver Melvin Theuma, to target Caruana Galizia due to fears that she was preparing to publish damaging information about him and his uncle. Theuma, who received a presidential pardon in exchange for his testimony, testified that he received €150,000 in cash from Fenech inside a brown envelope to facilitate the hit. Theuma has been living under witness protection since 2019.
Other key figures in the case have already faced justice. In June 2025, explosive suppliers Robert Agius and Jamie Vella were sentenced to life imprisonment without parole. The Degiorgio brothers, Alfred and George, are currently serving 40-year sentences for detonating the bomb, while their accomplice Vincent Muscat is serving a 15-year term.
The murder of Caruana Galizia, who spent years uncovering corruption within Maltese politics and business, sparked global outrage and placed the rule of law in the European Union’s smallest member state under intense scrutiny. The ensuing scandal contributed to the resignation of then-Prime Minister Joseph Muscat in January 2020 following widespread protests. A 2021 public inquiry concluded that the government fostered a state of impunity that enabled the killers to believe they could commit the crime without consequence.
Caruana Galizia’s family, including her husband, three sons, and two sisters, have been a constant presence at the proceedings. Following the start of the trial, her sister Mandy Mallia expressed the family’s ongoing struggle, noting the pain of listening to recordings where Fenech insisted the journalist must not survive. Mallia emphasized the urgency of the situation, stating that justice for Daphne cannot come soon enough and that Malta must step up. The trial is expected to continue for several weeks.
