The millionaire and businessman accused of the murder of Maltese journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, Jorgen Fenech, has been released on bail, with a trial date yet to be set, reports The Guardian.
Galicija, who was investigating corruption in the purchase and sale of the Možura wind farm on the hill of the same name between Bar and Ulcinj, was killed in 2017 in a car bomb explosion as she left her home in Bidnia, Malta.
Fenech, the owner of a group of casinos and hotels, was arrested and charged with complicity in the murder of Galicia in November 2019. However, delays in the initiation of the trial allowed his lawyers to successfully request his release on bail.
Caruana Galizia's family condemned these delays, claiming that the state and the justice system had "failed the victims".
Fenek and his family deposited more than 50 million euros in cash and shares as a guarantee for his release.
The brutal murder of a Maltese journalist in an EU member state has plunged the ruling party into scandal and accusations of a cover-up, sparking concern across Europe.
Fenech walked out of Corradino prison on Thursday night, five years after he was first charged. Wearing a navy blue zip-up sweater and jeans, carrying paperwork and accompanied by his lawyer, he entered a van with tinted windows as cameramen pressed toward him. He declined to comment, saying only "thank you" before the vehicle drove off.
Fenek is one of seven men charged in connection with the murder. He denies the charges and has pleaded not guilty.
To date, none of the accused have been brought to trial. The two Degiorgio brothers, Alfred and George, admitted to planting the bomb and were sentenced to 40 years in prison each. Their accomplice received a reduced sentence after pleading guilty and providing evidence to the prosecution. The two men accused of procuring the bomb are in custody awaiting trial.
Melvin Teuma, a taxi driver who claims to have been the middleman, was granted a presidential pardon in exchange for testifying and now lives under police protection. "The explosion that killed her was a warning: the justice system has failed the victims. While no one can be held indefinitely without trial, trials should be completed before bail is issued. Defendants, prosecutors and courts should not be allowed to drag out proceedings for years," the Dafne Caruana Galizia Foundation, set up by her family, said in a statement after Fenech's release.
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Judge Edwin Grima initially granted bail on Friday, January 24, but negotiations over complex financial guarantees took two weeks, delaying Fenech's release.
His aunt has pledged her shares in the family real estate business Tumas Group as collateral. This stake is reportedly worth over €50 million. Fenek has also paid a deposit of €80.000 and is subject to a €120.000 bond, which he will forfeit if he breaches the terms of his bail. He is banned from coming within 50 metres of the coast or the airport, and from contacting witnesses in the case against him, including Teuma.
He must sign in at the police station every day and remains at home from 17:00 p.m. to 11:00 a.m. He can only live at an address approved by the court, and a police officer will be stationed outside his residence 24 hours a day. The court has withheld his passport and personal documents.
The chief prosecutor opposed the release, citing the risk of flight and the possibility of influencing witnesses. However, under Maltese law, defendants can leave prison if 30 months have passed since the indictment was filed and the trial has not yet begun.
Maltese Prime Minister Robert Abela said he understood the family's pain but rejected suggestions the government could have done more. Last weekend, he said the delay was due to constitutional cases and preliminary hearings initiated by Fenech, as well as requests from the prosecution and the family, such as protecting the identity of Caruana Galizia's sources.
"If you ask me if the government could have done anything differently in this case, my answer would be that it couldn't," Abela said.
As a columnist and magazine publisher whose political blog was widely read, Caruana Galizia was almost as well-known in Malta as those she exposed in her research. In her reports, she criticized the then Labour Prime Minister of Malta, Joseph Muscat, and his ministers.
The journalist was closely linked to the opposition Nationalist Party, and the fight to bring her killers to justice has been hampered by political infighting. Muscat was forced to resign in 2019 amid the crisis, but his party won the 2022 general election and remains in power today.
Executive Director of the Network for the Affirmation of the Non-Governmental Sector (MANS), Vanja Ćalović Marković, said in 2023 that the authorities in Montenegro should intensify cooperation with Maltese services in the fight against organized crime and corruption, and that this could also lead to the investigation into the murder of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia.
"High-ranking officials are being tried in Malta. Her son came to Montenegro, he is an investigative journalist and he spoke with our politicians in the Parliament who promised him that they would form an inquiry committee. I'm talking about those from the new government, but nothing happened," Ćalović Marković said at the time in a podcast of the Union of Medical Doctors of Montenegro (SDMCG).
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