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Alleged Mastermind Acquitted in Murder of Journalist
Newser • • general
Key Points:
- Maltese businessman Yorgen Fenech was acquitted by a jury of masterminding the 2017 car bomb killing of investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, with the court finding him not guilty of complicity and criminal conspiracy charges.
- Daphne Caruana Galizia was assassinated after exposing corruption involving Malta's political and business elite, including figures close to then-Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, leading to mass protests and Muscat's eventual resignation.
- Several other individuals involved in the murder have pleaded guilty or been convicted, receiving sentences ranging from 15 years to life imprisonment, while a middleman granted a presidential pardon testified that Fenech ordered and funded the killing.
- An independent inquiry in 2021 held the Maltese state responsible for the assassination, citing a pervasive culture of impunity at the highest government levels that enabled the crime.
