Yorgen Fenech on trial in Malta for allegedly ordering journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia's murder

Maltese businessman Yorgen Fenech is on trial for allegedly ordering the 2017 car-bomb murder of investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia.

Nearly nine years after a car bomb killed Malta's most prominent investigative journalist, the man accused of ordering her murder is finally facing a jury. Yorgen Fenech, an heir to a major Maltese property empire, has appeared in court charged with commissioning the October 2017 assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia — charges he denies. Prosecutors told the jury that Fenech allegedly paid the three men convicted of carrying out the car bombing €150,000 to commit the killing. Beyond that sum, the court also heard that Fenech is accused of spending a further €400,000 covering the hitmen's legal fees after their arrest — a detail prosecutors appear to be using to establish his ongoing connection to the convicted killers. Caruana Galizia was a fearless anti-corruption reporter whose work exposed high-level wrongdoing in Malta, including through the Panama Papers scandal. She was killed when a bomb planted beneath her car detonated near her home in Bidnija. The three men who physically carried out the bombing were convicted separately. Fenech's trial marks the culmination of a long legal process to determine who was behind the order to kill her.

Why it matters

Caruana Galizia's murder drew international attention to press freedom and political corruption in Malta, and her family and press freedom groups have long pushed for full accountability. Fenech's trial is seen as the critical final step in establishing whether those who ordered — not just carried out — the killing face justice.

What's next

The trial is ongoing, with prosecutors and defense expected to present further evidence to the jury.

Key facts

• Yorgen Fenech is accused of ordering the murder of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia; he denies all charges
• Caruana Galizia was killed by a car bomb in Malta in October 2017
• Prosecutors allege Fenech paid the hitmen €150,000 to carry out the killing
• Fenech is also accused of spending approximately €400,000 on legal fees for the three convicted bombers
• Fenech is described as an heir to a major Maltese property empire
• The trial comes almost nine years after Caruana Galizia's death, with the three direct perpetrators already convicted separately

Bias & framing notes

All three sources are from the same outlet, The Guardian, which limits independent corroboration. The articles appear to cover different stages or hearings of the same trial, with each emphasizing a different piece of courtroom testimony — the payment to hitmen, the legal fees, and the trial's opening. No conflicting facts were identified across the three pieces, but the absence of any non-Guardian source reduces the trust score.

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