A Malta jury on September 2, 2026, acquitted prominent businessman Yorgen Fenech of masterminding the 2017 car-bomb assassination of investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia. Fenech had been indicted in 2021 on charges of complicity and criminal conspiracy and pleaded not guilty, with the jury finding him not guilty on both counts following a lengthy trial.
Caruana Galizia was killed at age 53 when a car bomb detonated as she drove near her home on October 16, 2017. Fenech was the last of roughly half a dozen people charged in the plot to face prosecution, while others previously received prison sentences or guilty pleas, and a middleman received a presidential pardon in exchange for testimony.
Following the verdict, Fenech left the Valletta courthouse amidst a chaotic scene with hecklers, and Caruana Galizia’s family stated that the verdict denied her the justice she deserves. Her sons attended the reading of the verdict but left without speaking to reporters.