Businessman accused of ordering Daphne Caruana Galizia murder stands trial in Malta

The businessman accused of ordering the murder of the Maltese journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia goes on trial on Wednesday, more than nine years after her death in a car-bomb attack that sent shockwaves through Europe. Yorgen Fenech, the heir to a property empire worth hundreds of millions, is one of seven men prosecutors accused of involvement in the killing, and the last to face trial. He faces two charges: complicity in the voluntary homicide of Caruana Galizia, and association with a person or persons in Malta with the intention of committing a crime there. He denies the charges. The attorney general has called for a life sentence for the murder charge and between 20 and 30 years for the criminal association charge. Yorgen Fenech leaves the courts of justice in Valletta in November 2019. Photograph: Yara Nardi/Reuters A jury was sworn in on Wednesday morning at the courts of justice in Malta’s capital, Valletta. Of the other six men already prosecuted in relation to the murder, five were convicted and one secured a pardon in exchange for testimony. Caruana Galizia died in 2017, shortly after a general election in Malta that was dominated by revelations from her investigations. A magazine publisher, newspaper columnist and blogger, she was one of the most recognised media figures in the country. Her reporting on leading government and business figures had made her a target of repeated attacks by politicians and their supporters. …