The killing of Maltese journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia and its aftermath

Maltese businessman Yorgen Fenech was cleared on Wednesday of masterminding the car-bomb murder of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia nine years ago, Reuters reported. The case became a defining political crisis in Malta and drew sustained international scrutiny of the island’s police and judiciary. The timeline begins with the Oct. 16, 2017 killing: a bomb placed under Caruana Galizia’s Peugeot 108 seat detonated remotely from an offshore yacht, according to court information. Subsequent years saw charges for Alfred and George Degiorgio and Vincent Muscat, resignations at senior government level, and public protests over corruption allegations. Later proceedings included prison terms for those convicted of supplying the bomb, and Fenech’s trial set for July 1, 2026 on complicity charges.