Court to decide on Daphne Caruana Galizia murder suspect’s latest bail application

The criminal court is expected to take a decision on the latest request for bail by Vincent Muscat, one of the men accused of murdering Daphne Caruana Galizia.

Muscat, 55 and known as ‘il-Kohhu’, along with brothers Alfred and George Degiorgio, are believed to have planted, and detonated the bomb that killed Caruana Galizia on the 16 October 2017.

Arthur Azzopardi, who is appearing for Muscat, claimed that there were many murder cases where the accused was granted bail three months after his or her arraignment.

Azzopardi gave the court a list of accused individuals who had not remained in police custody for more than twenty months – as in his client’s case – and who were granted bail notwithstanding the grave nature of their crimes.

Amongst the names he mentioned were Liam Debono, Gerald Galea, Brian Cini, Paul Farrugia, and Joe Cutajar.

“We can’t keep saying that a person has to be remanded in custody since an investigation is still ongoing,” Azzopardi said. 

He added that jurisprudence from the European Court of Human Rights was in line with his statements and that, according to Maltese law, the limit on the length of time one can remain remanded in preventative custody was 20 months, which had elapsed in his client’s case.

A decision on Muscat’s bail is expected to be taken by the court in the coming days.