Outcry erupts after Yorgen Fenech acquitted of Daphne murder charges

Outcry has echoed across social media over the past 12 hours following Wednesday night’s acquittal of Yorgen Fenech, who stood trial on charges related to the murder of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia.

“This morning we woke up in a country that can blow you off the face of the earth because you write something they don’t like,” PN MP and shadow energy minister Mark Anthony Sammut said. “That is the only sure fact.”

Sammut noted that the verdict came nine years after the public was told the case had been solved, with “no stone left unturned.” Yet, he insisted that Malta today is less just than it was nine years ago.

“So who was the one to kill Daphne?” PN MEP Peter Agius questioned, adding that almost nine years have passed without a response.

Economy shadow minister Darren Carabott went on in his own Facebook post, explaining that while the Nationalist Party has remained silent for months to allow Malta’s institutions to carry out their work, on the night of the verdict, he is angry.

“This jury went to Castille,” he said. “In what world is it normal for a murder trial to arrive at Castille?”

Carabott went on to recall words heard during the trial and allegedly spoken by Yorgen Fenech: “We are strong under Labour, no one can touch me.”

He also pointed out that Cabinet granted a presidential pardon to Melvin Theuma, whose testimony, he said, was ultimately not believed by the court.

“The jury heard that there were people naked in the Office of the Prime Minister. The chief of staff to the prime minister was mentioned as the alleged mastermind behind the murder. And I say again: How is it possible that a jury in the murder trial of a journalist went to Castille?”

While Carabott underlined that he respects the verdict, he insisted that it does not mean the chapter ends here.

Activist and Moviment Graffitti member André Callus said that the only person accused of ordering the journalist’s murder was acquitted on Wednesday, sarcastically remarking that “the €140,000 Yorgen gave to Melvin Theuma were for him to buy a packet of cigarettes.”

He said this was not the first time that people accused of murder had escaped consequences, referring to the “terrorist attack” in Ħal Far that led to the death of Lassana Cisse and noting that those responsible remain at large.

“Something is seriously going terribly wrong in this country,” Callus said.

ADPD–The Green Party chairperson Sandra Gauci recalled growing up hearing the stories of Karin Grech and Ray Caruana, both of whom were killed in acts of political terrorism at a time when technology and forensic expertise were far more limited.

Despite those advancements, however, Gauci said the conclusion has remained the same: “It was no one.”

“I am tired and fed up,” she said. “It is nice to turn your face the other way, live in your own bubble and ignore all of it.”

As if waiting nine years was not enough, Gauci said, people were then made to endure an ordeal which, she argued, reflected a familiar reality in Malta: nobody is ever at fault, and things simply seem to happen on their own.

“I’m fed up,” she reiterated.

Momentum chairperson Arnold Cassola insisted that the conclusion of the trial should mark only the beginning of investigations into a long list of people over their alleged roles or conduct surrounding the murder.

Among those Cassola named were “Chris Cardona, David Gatt, Keith Schembri, and Co.”

“Silvio Valletta, Lorry Cutajar, and Raymond Caruana in the police force,” he continued, adding that former prime minister Joseph Muscat and Owen Bonnici had also attended investigators’ briefings.

Turning specifically to Muscat, Cassola argued that the former prime minister should be fully investigated over what he described as his “very dubious” behaviour following Caruana Galizia’s assassination.

Among the allegations raised by Cassola was that Muscat met Yorgen Fenech and informed him that Melvin Theuma was going to be arrested.

Cassola also referred to the allegation that Muscat told Kenneth Camilleri he was “not interested” in knowing that Keith Schembri had allegedly sent Camilleri to reassure Caruana Galizia’s murderers.

Schembri had also maintained that whatever he did was never hidden from the former prime minister, Cassola pointed out.

Cassola further referred to the “very important” politician who went unnamed during the trial and who was allegedly said to have acted as a go-between for Fenech’s defence lawyers and Schembri.

“We all know who this is.”

Cassola singled out former OPM chief of staff Keith Schembri in particular, arguing that he warranted a full investigation into his alleged “diversionary tactics and leaks”, as well as what Cassola described as his “dirty dealings” with Yorgen Fenech, Melvin Theuma, Adrian Vella, Johann Cremona, and Kenneth Camilleri.

Cassola also referred to Fenech’s uncle, Ray, who allegedly advised him on how to flee Malta as the investigation began to intensify.

“Heathcliff Farrugia has already been tried and convicted. But what about Rosianne Cutajar, Joseph Cuschieri, Marvin Gaerty and Johann Buttigieg?” Cassola asked.

“My apologies to any other crooks who I left out of the list,” Cassola concluded sarcastically. “This was not intentional.”

University of Malta student organisation Kunsill Studenti Universitarji (KSU) also called for all outstanding leads to be pursued and for full justice to be served.

“Many students enter their professions with the ambition to seek truth, defend justice and make society better,” KSU said on behalf of university students. “Daphne’s murder is a devastating reminder that those who speak truth to power can be subjected to the most extreme form of silencing.”

“Justice for Daphne,” PN MP and foreign affairs shadow minister Beppe Fenech Adami said. “Now more than ever.”

From the government's end, the only statement issued so far asked the public to be "cautious" in public commentary during what it described as a sensitive moment, warning that some comments could “do more harm than good."

More to follow...