The acquittal of Yorgen Fenech, who was on trial in Malta for involvement in the murder of the journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, is a devastating blow for justice and press freedom. Nine years after her car was blown up, it seems increasingly unlikely that anyone will be held to account for ordering and paying for her death. Mr Fenech’s admissions that he knew about the murder before it happened, and gave money to the middle-man who paid the killers, make it hard to understand why he was found not guilty on the lesser charge of association.
All killings of journalists are wrong. The bomb placed in Caruana Galizia’s car was especially shocking, as such brazen violence is usually associated with war zones or states overrun by organised crime. The fact that this acquittal came two months after those of three men accused of murdering another journalist, Lyra McKee, in Northern Ireland, adds to a grim impression of impunity for killers. While McKee is not thought to have been targeted in the way that Caruana Galizia was, the inability of police and prosecutors to secure convictions in either case points to wider problems.
