Accused in Daphne Caruana Galizia murder case asks for judge's recusal after 'damning' decree

Alfred Degiorgio is insisting that a judge "went to the extreme" when she ruled that his request to stop FBI agents from testifying was frivolous and vexatious and is now calling for her recusal.

In a court application filed on Monday afternoon by lawyer William Cuschieri, Degiorgio argued that Madame Justice Lorraine Schembri Orland made "adverse comments", which necessitated her recusal or abstention from continuing to hear the case.

Schembri Orland had refused what she termed a “vain and vexatious” request for the prevention of FBI testimony. Two FBI agents went on to testify against the three men accused of murdering journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia last week.

Amongst the arguments made for the judge’s recusal was the fact that the court "went to the extreme" of saying the request was frivolous and vexatious because it felt that the link between the motivation for Degiorgio's request and the evidence was "so stretched that it is lacking in the seriousness requested and expected in proceedings such as these".

This was a ‘damning’ pronouncement, Cuschieri argued. "The undersigned cannot understand how with these absolutely damning words, this court could ever decide serenely, dispassionately, independently and impartially on his case, which is based on these same documents."

The court decreed that the issues raised by Cuschieri would be dealt with in the next sitting.

Degiorgio, his brother George Degiorgio, known as iċ-Ċiniż, and Vince Muscat, il-Koħħu, are accused of murdering Caruana Galizia with a powerful car bomb on 16 October. The compilation of evidence against the three is still ongoing.