Two men have been sentenced to life in prison for supplying the car bomb that killed the anti-corruption journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia in Malta eight years ago.
The sentencing on Tuesday of Robert Agius and Jamie Vella, reported to be members of the island’s criminal underworld, marked a significant step in the long campaign to bring those charged with Caruana Galizia’s murder to justice.
Her death in October 2017 sparked outrage across Europe and embroiled Malta’s governing party in accusations of a coverup, ultimately leading to the resignation of the then prime minister, Joseph Muscat.
Prosecutors have brought charges against seven people, including a millionaire businessman who is still awaiting trial.
Agius and Vella, who had pleaded not guilty, were sentenced after their conviction on Friday last week. Jurors returned an 8-1 verdict after a trial that lasted more than six weeks.
They were found to have taken payment for supplying the device, which was hidden in a children’s shoe box and planted under a seat in the journalist’s car. It was detonated remotely as she drove away from her home.
Under Maltese law, those serving life sentences remain in prison until death. They are not eligible for parole or any other form of early release.
Prosecutors had argued on Tuesday that the punishment should send a strong message to the public, both locally and internationally. Press freedom groups across Europe have followed the case closely.
“We hope that today’s sentences will be a step towards a safer world for journalists by signalling to potential killers that there are heavy penalties to pay when a journalist is murdered,” Caruana Galizia’s family said in a statement.
“The car bomb attack that killed Daphne sent shock waves through Maltese society that reverberated around the world. Her assassination created a sense in society that the people behind her murder were sure of their impunity and that the institutions that were duty-bound to protect her and society had failed.”
Two men accused of planting and detonating the device, the brothers George and Alfred Degiorgio, are serving 40-year jail terms after pleading guilty. A third man, Vince Muscat, who also admitted his role in the murder, is serving 15 years after turning state’s evidence.
Melvin Theuma, a taxi driver who claims he acted as a middleman, secured a presidential pardon in exchange for giving evidence and is living under police protection.
Yorgen Fenech, the heir to a casino and hotels group, was arrested and charged with complicity to kill Caruana Galizia in November 2019. He denies the charges. Delays in bringing the case before a jury have allowed his lawyers to successfully argue for bail, and he was released in February after pledging €50m (£42m) in cash and shares as security.
Because they pleaded not guilty, Vella and Agius were the first among the accused to actually stand trial. They were arrested in 2021, based on evidence provided by Muscat. His testimony was crucial in the trial, which heard from 157 witnesses, including the victim’s relatives and members of the FBI, which had assisted local police with the investigation.
The court heard that the original plan was to shoot the journalist, with Vella providing the hitmen with rifles and an AK-47. The plans were changed, however, and the killers opted for a bomb instead. It was placed in her car during the night and detonated remotely the next day, using a command sent via text message by George Degiorgio while he was cruising onboard a motor boat.
Prosecutors told the court that the motive for the murder was Caruana Galizia’s “journalistic work”.
In the same trial, Vella was convicted of complicity in a second, unrelated murder – the killing in 2015 of a Maltese lawyer, Carmel Chircop. Robert Agius’s brother Adrian and George Degiorgio were also found guilty of complicity in the same crime.
