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Yorgen Fenech is accused of planning the murder of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia.
Published on 2 Jul 2026
A businessman who was arrested seven years ago for the 2017 murder of investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia has gone on trial in Malta.
Yorgen Fenech, 44, was arrested on a boat from Malta in 2019, in what prosecutors say was an attempt to flee.
Fenech is accused of instigating the murder of 53-year-old Caruana Galizia, one of Malta’s most prominent journalists.
At the time of his murder, the journalist was investigating corruption and crimes against the offshore company called “17 Black”.
After the murder, it was revealed that Fenech was the owner of 17 Black.
“Nine years after the murder of my mother, the person accused of the crime has been charged,” the journalist’s son, Paul Caruana Galizia, wrote on social media on Wednesday.
Daphne Caruana Galizia was killed when a car bomb exploded as she was leaving her home on a small Mediterranean island.
Prosecutors say Fenech ordered a former taxi driver, Melvin Theuma, to find someone to kill.
Theuma eventually admitted that he had hired three men to carry out the bombings, telling authorities that he had received $170,000 from Fenech as a payment.
The three men who detonated the bombs were arrested a few weeks after the killings and
The two men who delivered the bomb were given life sentences in 2025, while the third accused was given a reduced sentence for more information.
“This landmark case must reveal the truth about the heinous conspiracy and murderous events that led to the death of a journalist in the European Union,” said the press rights group Reporters Without Borders in a statement at the start of Fenech’s trial.
The assassination prompted former Prime Minister Joseph Muscat to resign in 2020 following massive protests against his government’s handling of the investigation.
A asking people published in 2021 concluded that the government was “responsible” for the killings because of the “impunity environment” the government had created.
Fenech has denied the charges against him. His trial is expected to last several weeks.
