IPI is joined by the MFRR partners today in lamenting the failure to convict the alleged mastermind in the trial for the murder of Maltese investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia and hope that the demoralising verdict will swiftly be overturned on appeal.
On 2 September, powerful Maltese business tycoon Yorgen Fenech was cleared by a jury of any involvement in the journalist’s 2017 car-bomb assassination, leaving the case in a state of partial impunity.
The jury in the Maltese capital Valletta reached its decision on the first day after just eight hours of deliberations, deciding by 8–1 to acquit Fenech on both charges of murder and criminal association. The prosecution has already announced its intention to appeal the verdict.
After a months-long trial and a tireless nine-year campaign for accountability for all those involved, full justice for Daphne’s murder has now been delayed further. MFRR partners express our shared shock and dismay at this significant setback in the fight for justice.
In a case that had become symbolic of the fight for press freedom and the rule of law in Malta, the verdict also represents a severe impediment to the global fight against impunity for the murder of journalists around the world.
However, the search for truth cannot end here. The criminal trial of Yorgen Fenech highlighted numerous unresolved claims concerning the possible involvement of other powerful individuals, including former officials.
This acquittal must not be treated as the end of the authorities’ responsibility to establish who planned, commissioned and enabled this assassination. Those who ultimately ordered Daphne’s murder cannot go unpunished.
Our organisations, representatives of which travelled to Malta to witness the verdict, send their full support to Daphne’s family and legal team, reaffirm their continued determination to secure accountability, and stress their backing for the pending appeal.
Daphne’s family are right: nine years after Daphne’s brutal assassination, the institutional failures that enabled her murder also remain unaddressed and unreformed.
There can be no genuine protection for press freedom while the murder of a journalist remains only partially accounted for. Although today’s verdict represents a serious setback, the fight for justice and press freedom reforms continues.
Signed:
International Press Institute (IPI)
European Federation of Journalists (EFJ)
ARTICLE 19 Europe
European Centre for Press and Media Freedom (ECPMF)
Free Press Unlimited (FPU)
Osservatorio Balcani Caucaso Transeuropa (OBCT)
This statement was coordinated by IPI as part of the Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR), a Europe-wide mechanism which tracks, monitors and responds to violations of press and media freedom in EU Member States and Candidate Countries
