Yorgen Fenech is accused of ordering the killing of the journalist, in a case that rocked the nation and brought down a government
2-MIN READ2-MIN ListenAgence France-PressePublished: 1:16am, 2 Jul 2026A Maltese tycoon went on trial on Wednesday accused of ordering the murder of a hard-hitting investigative journalist that rocked the island nation, brought down a government and drew global condemnation.
Suspect Yorgen Fenech is charged with orchestrating the assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia, 53, a prominent public figure and vocal critic who was killed by a bomb placed in her car near her home.
“Nine years after my mother’s murder, the man accused of commissioning it stands trial,” the journalist’s son, Paul Caruana Galizia, wrote on social media.
A lawyer for the family, Jason Azzopardi, confirmed that the trial had begun and that Fenech was in court.
Caruana Galizia had exposed corruption at the highest level in the country, shining a spotlight on murky links between Malta’s business and political elites.
The death of the popular journalist and blogger described as a “one-woman WikiLeaks” sparked outrage around the world and put Malta, the European Union’s smallest member state, in the spotlight over its apparent rule-of-law failings.
