Everyone involved in the assassination of the 2017 anti-corruption journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia has been detained, said the Maltese national police chief.
Commissioner Angelo Gafa was speaking before a court hearing on Wednesday evening, at which two new suspects were accused.
So far, seven men have admitted or been accused of complicity in killing Caruana Galizia. Among them are property and energy tycoon Yorgen Fenech, who pleads not guilty to the crime, and a taxi driver who has already confessed to being the intermediary in the alleged contract killing of one of Malta’s most prominent journalists.
“With the evidence we have, we are able to say that every person involved, whether a brain or an accomplice, is arrested or facing charges,” Gafa said in a press briefing.
The comments may provoke some controversy, as Fenech has given evidence to police that he accuses elderly political figures of having known the plot beforehand.
At 23:00 in the court of the capital of Malta, Valletta, Robert Agius and his associate Jamie Vella pleaded not guilty to complicity in the murder of Caruana Galizia. Vella, who tested positive for Covid-19, appeared in a pillow suit in the heavily guarded courtroom. Vella and Robert’s brother, Adrian Agius, were also accused of involvement in a second crime, the shooting in 2015 of a lawyer named Carmel Chircop. They pleaded not guilty.
George Degiorgio, who is already before the trial, being one of the assassins suspected of the execution of Caruana Galizia’s crime, was also accused and denied of committing Chircop’s crime.
The raids on homes and vehicles belonging to brothers Agius and Vella, who were arrested on Tuesday, revealed money worth € 70,000, firearms, 350g of heroin and two envelopes of cocaine. At one of the residences, the police found 10 cars, which are expected to be confiscated.
Europol, which has been assisting since the beginning of the crime investigation, has been tasked with extracting data from 25 mobile phones and two laptops confiscated during the investigation.
Fenech was arrested in 2019 while trying to leave Malta aboard his yacht. He is in custody awaiting a decision on whether he will be tried. A taxi driver obtained a presidential pardon in exchange for his evidence against Fenech. A former friend of the tycoon, Melvin Theuma now lives in a safe house, under the protection of the police.
The latest developments come after a key witness reached an agreement recognizing the request, which was approved on Monday by the Maltese prime minister and his cabinet. Three years after first presenting crucial evidence about the case, Vincent Muscat obtained a measure of clemency in exchange for his testimony.
After pleading guilty to his involvement in the assassination of Caruana Galizia, he was immediately sentenced to 15 years, although his prison time could be changed to allow his release in 2027. Muscat also received a presidential pardon for acknowledging his involvement in Chircop’s assassination in exchange for evidence against his alleged accomplices.
Caruana Galizia, a chronicler and investigator whose blog about political corruption in Malta has earned her a reputation as a “single woman WikiLeaks”, was almost as well-known in her home country as the ones she set out in her purposes. . Her violent crime, which took place near her home in the village of Bidnija, involved the ruling Labor party in a political scandal.
The country’s prime minister, Joseph Muscat (unrelated to Vincent Muscat), was forced to resign in 2019 after allegations that members of his administration tried to sabotage the police investigation.