The perpetrators confessed to the murder of the Maltese journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia

Their guilt for her murder Maltese investigative journalist, Daphne Caruana Galiziaconfessed during the hearing, the two brothers who were tried as natural perpetrators, George DiGiorgio and Alfred DiGiorgio.

“They plead guilty,” said their lawyer Simon Micallef Starface. The two defendants had initially pleaded “not guilty” to the charge that they built, planted and detonated the bomb that killed the journalist. The journalist’s car exploded when she parked it outside her home on October 16, 2017. The bomb was placed under the driver’s seat and the blast was so powerful that the wreckage of the car was thrown over a wall, ending up in a field. A few hours before her murder, she had posted the following message:There are corrupt everywhere. The situation is desperate.”

After the change of attitude of the two defendants and the admission of their guilt in exchange for the leniency of the court, the judges retired and now everyone awaits the sentencing decision.

Paul Caruana Galizia, one of the journalist’s three sons, welcomed the guilty plea, describing it as a “ray of light among the clouds”. The death of the 53-year-old journalist shocked the smallest EU country and caused consternation throughout Europe.

Deputy prosecutor Philip Galea Farrugia asked the nine jurors to remain impartial. “Whatever you believe, it shouldn’t affect your decision,” he stressed.

Many representatives of associations for the defense of freedom of the press, such as Reporters Without Borders (RSF) and the European Center for Freedom of the Press and Media, are present at the trial.

A third defendant, vincent muscat, he avoided trial after previously pleading guilty and is already serving a 15-year sentence. Businessman Jørgen Fenech is also being prosecuted for the murder of the Maltese journalist, who appears to be the one who paid the death contract, but his trial has not yet been set.

The death of Daphne Caruana Galizia caused a scandal in the country and led to the resignation, in January 2020, of Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, who was accused of trying to cover up his friends and political allies involved in the case. According to an investigation, the results of which were made public in 2021, the state bears part of the responsibility for the journalist’s murder, mainly because it created a “climate of impunity” for those who wanted to silence her.

Much of the case rests on the testimony and phone records of the perpetrators’ middleman, Melvin Theuma, who was granted a presidential pardon in exchange for the information he revealed. He claims the journalist’s murder was ordered by Fenek, who headed a consortium that was awarded a state contract to build a power plant in 2015. Fenek was arrested in November 2019.

Caruana Galizia had revealed the existence of a “secret” company that was supposed to funnel funds to other Panama-based companies owned by then-Energy Minister Konrad Mizzi and prime minister’s chief of staff Keith Schebri.

There is no evidence that money changed hands, but a Reuters investigation after the journalist’s death proved that the company was owned by Fenek.

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