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🇳🇱 Netherlands /Crime & Justice

Maltese Businessman Acquitted in Journalist’s Murder Case, Then Video Emerges in Which He Appears to Confess

From NRC Handelsblad · () Dutch

Translated from Dutch and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

News Named sources In the courts
  • Days after a nine-member jury acquitted Yorgen Fenech of involvement in Daphne Caruana Galizia’s murder, The Times of Malta published footage from his 2019 police interrogation.
  • The newspaper reported that Fenech told investigators he initially authorized an intermediary to carry out the killing, but later withdrew the order and reimbursed costs.
  • Malta’s public prosecutor is appealing the acquittal, while the footage’s statements have not been independently verified by NRC.

A video that surfaced days after Yorgen Fenech’s acquittal has reignited Malta’s most closely watched murder case. In footage published by The Times of Malta, the businessman appears to tell police that he gave the green light for the killing of investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia.

The interrogation lasted more than three and a half hours and was recorded in November 2019, shortly after Fenech’s arrest. The nine jurors saw the video during the trial. According to The Times of Malta, Fenech said he authorized Melvin Theuma, a taxi driver who has admitted acting as an intermediary, to arrange the murder. Theuma is now a cooperating witness.

Fenech reportedly said he withdrew the order three days later. Theuma had already paid 30,000 euros to the killers, he said, so Fenech gave the driver 50,000 euros to cover the costs. Fenech stressed in the interrogation that the money was not payment for the murder. The footage is in Maltese, and NRC said it had not independently verified his statements.

More than outraged.

· Reporters Without BordersThe organization described the international media reaction to Fenech’s acquittal.

The jury acquitted Fenech by eight votes to one, without explaining its decision. His lawyers had argued that the interrogation could not be used as evidence because he was allegedly under the influence of cocaine. Fenech also repeatedly said he had only acted as an intermediary and that Keith Schembri, a former chief of staff to Malta’s prime minister, was the real opdrachtgever. The public prosecutor is appealing.

The acquittal prompted a silent march organized by Malta’s National Party, which demanded answers about who ordered the killing. Reporters Without Borders said international media organizations were “more than outraged,” while the European Centre for Press and Media Freedom warned that the verdict sent “a disturbing message to those who attack and murder journalists.”

A disturbing message to those who attack and murder journalists.

· European Centre for Press and Media FreedomThe center warned about the wider implications of the acquittal.
About this summary

Originally published by NRC Handelsblad in Dutch. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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