Malta: The State Prosecutor in Daphne Caruana Galizia’s murder case quits to join Yorgen Fenech’s defense team

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MALTA, May 7, 2020 --  Lawyer Charles Mercieca has left the AG’s Office and joined Yorgen Fenech’s legal team. Daphne’s case has been dragging on since her death, and this development just goes to show how much impunity culprits like Yorgen really enjoy. 

Talking about the move, the lawyer said: "In this capacity I am assisting the defence team of Yorgen Fenech which is composed of Dr Marion Camilleri and Dr Gianluca Caruana Curran."

"During my time with the Attorney General’s Office I was never involved either directly or indirectly in Yorgen Fenech’s case or any other cases which have anything to do with the circumstances surrounding the case." he added. 

The Daphne Caruana Galizia Foundation also made a statement saying that “The timing of Dr Mercieca’s transition to criminal defence lawyer points to prior collusion between Mr Fenech’s defence team and a serving criminal prosecutor.”

Maltese investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia was killed in a car bomb while she was driving near her home on October 17, 2017. You can read our previous statement about her death here.

In November 2019, Maltese businessman Yorgen Fenech was arrested and charged with being the mastermind behind the murder. He refused the charges against him. The case proceedings shed light on the collusion of several top officials from the Maltese government. 

Fenech was denied bail again last month and the proceedings have been delayed because of the coronavirus pandemic.  

Caruana Galizia’s family has called on the AG office to launch an internal investigation. Daphne’s son announced the prosecutor's resignation on Twitter yesterday.

Despite widespread attention, there seems to be no chance for justice for Daphne. We are deeply concerned about the lack of transparency in this case. This is a sad day for press freedom. We are unsurprised by and yet concerned about the lack of will to bring this case to a close and punish the culprits.