Two men sentenced to life in prison for complicity in murder of Maltese journalist
Two men were sentenced to life in prison on Tuesday after being convicted of complicity in the murder of Maltese journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia.
Jamie Vella and Robert Agius were accused of supplying the bomb that killed Caruana Galizia in 2017.
Both were found guilty of the charges last week and on Tuesday were given the maximum sentence of life in prison.
Caruana Galizia, 53, was murdered on 16 October 2017 by a car bomb that was detonated while she was driving near her home.
In her career, she had written extensively about suspected corruption in political and business circles in Malta, and her murder shocked Europe and triggered angry protests in the Mediterranean island country.
Caruana Galizia's investigative reports had targeted people in then-Prime Minister Joseph Muscat's inner circle whom she accused of having offshore companies in tax havens disclosed in the Panama Papers leak.
She also targeted the opposition and at the time of her death was facing more than 40 libel suits.
The six-week trial also concerned the separate murder of a lawyer, Carmel Chircop, who was shot and killed in 2015.
Two other men, George Degiorgio and Adrian Agius, were convicted and sentenced to life in prison for that murder on Thursday.
George Degiorgio and his brother Alfred Degiorgio both pleaded guilty in 2022 to carrying out the murder of Caruana Galizia.
Related
Malta jury finds two men guilty of supplying bomb that killed journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia
Daphne Caruana Galizia: Brothers sentenced to 40 years prison for murdering Maltese journalist
They were each sentenced to 40 years in prison.
A third man, Vincent Muscat, pleaded guilty in 2021 for his role in the Caruana Galizia murder, and was sentenced to 15 years in prison.
He testified in the recent jury trial after being granted a presidential pardon for his role in the Chircop murder on the condition he tell the whole truth.
Yorgen Fenech, a prominent Maltese businessman, is currently out of jail on bail awaiting trial on charges of alleged complicity in the Caruana Galizia murder.
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