VALLETTA, Aug 31 (Reuters) – The jury trial of a Maltese businessman accused of masterminding the car bomb murder of prominent anti-corruption journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia entered its final phase on Monday, as the presiding judge started her summing up.
Yorgen Fenech, 44, is accused of complicity to murder Caruana Galizia in October 2017, a killing that shocked Europe and set off a political firestorm in Malta as well as focusing international attention on its police and judiciary.
Fenech could be sentenced to life in prison if convicted of complicity to murder, and up to 18 years if found guilty of a lesser charge of criminal association to commit murder.
A verdict is expected this week.
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During the trial, which started on July 1, alleged murder plot middleman Melvin Theuma, who turned state’s evidence, said Fenech had ordered the murder, funded it, and also paid for the legal defence of the hitmen.
The jury heard that Fenech had wanted Caruana Galizia killed because she was about to reveal information about him.
Fenech has denied the accusations, and his defence instead pointed fingers at his former close friend Keith Schembri, former chief of staff of then-prime minister Joseph Muscat and a target of Caruana Galizia’s blogs.
Muscat, who was never linked to the murder, stepped down in January 2020 due to the political fallout from the assassination.
The police said during the trial that Schembri had never been a suspect, and he has denied any role in the murder.
Winding up the case against Fenech over the weekend, prosecutor Anthony Vella said Fenech “has blood on his hands”, and that Fenech had admitted to handing cash to Theuma.
Defence lawyer Charles Mercieca alleged that “all roads lead to Keith (Schembri)”, and accused the police of not investigating him properly. “All bridges leading to Keith were burnt and so a bridge had to be built to Yorgen Fenech,” he said.
Three men who placed and set off the bomb, and two men who supplied it, have already been convicted and are serving long prison sentences.
(Reporting by Christopher Scicluna; editing by Alvise Armellini and Kevin Liffey)
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