Daphne Caruana Galizia - Timeline of Events

On October 16, 2017 Daphne Caruana Galizia was assassinated in a car-bomb attack a few metres away from her house in Bidnija, Malta. On the same day, The PM called the incident a “black day for freedom of expression.”

We have been documenting the progress of her case since the point of her death.

*Read by clicking the years.

2017

• October 17, 2017: International experts fly in to investigate the scene of the crime. A Dutch police team also flew in to lend a hand in the investigation. A day later the FBI showed up as well.
• October 19, 2017: Police Commissioner Lawrence Cutajar and Deputy Comission Silvio Valletta hold a press conference about the murder.
• October 20, 2017: The Pope sends his condolences to the family of the slain journalist.
• October 21, 2017: The government of Malta puts up a reward of one million euros for information about the killers.
• October 22, 2017: Civil Society Network organizes a protest and asks for the removal of the Attorney General and the Police Commissioner. Thousands took part in the protest.
• October 23, 2017: Opposition pushes for a parliamentary motion because of the protest by CSN. However, it bore no substantial results. A day later the parliament observed a minute of silence as a tribute to the slain journalist.
• October 26, 2017: EUROPOL comes to Malta to help with the investigation.
• November 3, 2017: Funeral is held for the journalist.
• November 14, 2017: Resolution of the rule of law is passed with overwhelming majority in European Parliament. Although this is non-binding the resolution means that the investigation and proceedings would be under the international eye.
• November 22, 2017: The family of the journalist ask for the removal of Deputy Commissioner Silvio Valletta because of a conflict of interest. He is married to Minister Justyne Caruana.
• November 30, 2017: An MEP delegation comes to the country on a fact-finding mission on Matla’s rule of law.
• December 4, 2017: A total of 10 people are taken into custody because of the murder. Eight men are arrested in connection with the murder. Later two more are detained.
• December 5, 2017: hree men are taken into custody in connection to her murder. The arrested included brothers George and Alfred Degiorgio, and Vince Muscat. However, the mastermind is still believed to be at large. The three plead not guilty to the crime.
• Also, in December: Two judges recuse themselves from the case because one was a classmate of the slain journalist’s sister, and the other had been covered by the journalist earlier in an article. Magistrate Stafrace Zammit eventually takes over to declare that there is enough evidence to indict the men.

2018

• February 2, 2018: Daphne Caruana Galizia’s memorial is attacked by a woman. This is not the last time this would happen with several such incidences popping up over the year.
• April 17, 2018: A consortium of 45 journalists representing 18 news organizations from 15 countries picked up and published The Daphne Project. It was all the work by Daphne, which was left in limbo after her murder. After five months of digging through her findings, gathering documents, talking to sources and trying to get to the bottom of the work she had done, the project came into being. It was coordinated and led by Forbidden Stories, a Paris-based organization established specifically to continue the work of killed, imprisoned, or otherwise incapacitated journalists.
• October 16, 2018: A march is held in Valletta to mark the anniversary of her death. It is joined by MEPs, activists and journalists.
• November 12, 2018: Minister Owen Bonnici is revealed to have asked that the journalist’s memorial be torn down, asking the Director General Cleaning Department to do the job.
• November 18, 2018: Two more people are identified by investigators as culprits behind the murder. No arrests are made, however.
• November 27, 2018: The murder is labelled “an event which represented the darkest hour for media freedom and media pluralism in the European Union since the 2015 Charlie Hebdo massacre in France” by the Centre for Media Pluralism and Media Freedom.

2019

• January 31, 2019: Prime Minister Joseph Muscat says that if Daphne’s family say that the story was a lie, he would drop libel charges against her.
• April 15, 2019: The two brothers, Alfred Degiorgio and George Degiorgio, accused of murdering Daphne were granted bail by Judge Giovanni Grixti in a separate case concerning money laundering charges. The brothers were each granted bail against guarantees of €70,000. This was their second attempt at bail in the case. In the first attempt they were granted bail by Magistrate Joseph Mifsud in October 2018, which was then revoked by Magistrate Edwina Grima. Nevertheless, the two still remained behind bars.

• June 26, 2019: Council of Europe approves a report into the killing, which covers Matla’s problematic state of law as well. It chronicles the many issues the investigation has faced, including conflict of interest of the officials involved. It also highlights the many delays that the investigation has been marred with. The government of Malta disputes the report, and the Degiorgio brothers claim it impacts their right to a free and fair trial.

• July 16, 2019: A bill of indictment is issued against the main accused, almost two years (21 months) after the murder took place.

• September 19, 2019: The Council of Europe’s human rights commissioner Dunja Mijatović has urged Malta to drop libel lawsuits against Daphne. On September 12, 2019, she wrote a letter to the prime minister, Joseph Muscat. The letter stated that when Daphne was murdered, she was facing more than 40 civil and criminal defamation suits. After her death, some 30 were transferred to her family under a Maltese civil law that allows claimants to pursue actions against the heirs of a deceased defendant.
• September 20, 2019: A public inquiry is called by the government after Council of Europe’s order. Judge Emeritus Michael Mallia is chosen for the commission. The inquiry is extremely criticised over its appointments and transparency, however. They’ve even been criticised by CoE itself.
• October 6, 2019: The Times of Malta reports that a major businessman is a main suspect in the case.
• October 6, 2019: Justice Aaron Bugeja, the judge slated to preside the trial of the three men accused for Daphne's murder has recused himself. Reasons for the recusal are unknown. Judge Edwina Grima has been chosen to preside over the trial. No date was set for the trial by jury of brothers George and Alfred Degiorgio, and Vincent Muscat; but the recusal was expected to push the case back. Justice Aoron had investigated the Egrant affair, a story reported by Daphne in which she claimed that the wife of Prime Minister Joseph Muscat was the owner of a secret offshore company in Panama, and had received a $1 million payment from Azerbaijan’s ruling family.
• October 9, 2019: George Degiorgio says phone records obtained through intercepts are illegal and should be stuck from the case record. He files a constitutional case, arguing the same.
• October 13, 2019: Vince Muscat says he is willing to testify about his role in Daphne’s murder, in exchange for a smaller sentence. Authorities could consider a plea bargain but there are reservations for his safety once behind bars.
• October 14, 2019: A book is published “Murder on the Malta Express”. The authors are threatened by the Maltese government a day later. The same law firm that represents the Church of Scientology is employed to do this.
• October 16, 2019: One of Daphne suspected killers, George Degiorgio, requested to suspend pre-trial criminal proceedings was refused by a court, which meant that an initial hearing scheduled for October 31 concerning the bill of indictment issued against Mr Degiorgio, his brother Alfred and Vincent Muscat will go ahead.
• October 16, 2019: The US embassy offered to support the Maltese investigation if requested by its authorities. Within hours of Daphne’s murder, agents from the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) were flown into Malta to assist local police investigators. According to sources, their technical expertise proved helpful in identifying the three men accused of killing the journalist in a car bombing.
• October 22, 2019: George Degiorgio has given the authorities 24 hours to exhibit the phone tap recordings and transcripts which led to his arrest, threatening further court action if they fail to do so. His lawyer, William Cuschieri, made the demand in a judicial letter.
• November 19, 2019: Reports show that a middleman in the murder is expected to receive pardon if he gives details about the mastermind of the killing. Prime Minister Muscat confirms that the pardon is on its way, but will only be given if the evidence is proven in court and leads to a prosecution. This man is later revealed to be Melvin Theuma.
• November 20, 2019: Yorgen Fenech is arrested in connection with the murder investigation. He’s also released on bail soon after. He has been confirmed as the main suspect for the murder.
• November 22, 2019: Yorgen Fenech’s boat is searched by authorities. The issue of conflict of interest is raised with the Prime Minister, who refuses to release control of the decision on the plea bargain. Investigators are looking at the businessman’s links to PM’s Chief of Staff Keith Schembri and Cabinet Minister Konrad Mizzi. Anti-corruption protests erupt in the country.
• November 23, 2019: Yorgen Fenech requests a pardon in exchange for information about the murder.
• November 24, 2019: Political turmoil intensifies in the country. Opposition leaders ask the PM to distance himself from the investigation for an impartial decision to be reached. There is absolute agreement that Keith Schembri and Konrad Mizzi have to be kicked out of their positions. The PM’s administrative council and executive committees launch a resolution for the removal of the PM from his position.

• November 25, 2019: A middleman called Melvin Theuma is given a pardon in exchange for information he can provide about the murder. He was arrested on November 14 for another case, but offered to provide concrete evidence for Daphne’s case. He’s provided audio recordings and text messages to support his claims.

• November 26, 2019: Keith Schembri resigns. He was detained by the police and then arrested. Konrad Mizzi resigns from his position and was followed by Chris Cardona (Economy Minister) who also put up his resignation. Protestors return to the parliament for a fifth time since November 16.

• November 27, 2019: Dr. Adrian Vella is arrested after Fenech revealed that the doctor had passed him a note from Schembri asking him to not expose anything about him to the authorities.
• November 28, 2019: European Parliament to send an urgent mission to Malta to see how the investigation is progressing. Keith Schembri was also released by the authorities. Fenech also sent a letter to the President asking that he be allowed to give the information he has in exchange for a pardon. He says he has details on Keith Schembri, Konrad Mizzi and Chris Cardona.
• November 29, 2019: The Cabinet decides not to give a pardon to Fenech unanimously. Muscat says he was not a part of the decision making process. Security personnel clashed with protestors and detained journalists briefly.
• November 29, 2019: The CoE asks the PM to stay out of any proceedings to ensure that there is no political interference into the case.
• November 30, 2019: Another protest takes place outside the parliament. Yorgen Fenech is charged with complicity in the murder.
• December 1, 2019: Prime Minister Joseph Muscat resigns, says he will stay on till the point that the party has a new leader. He will be out the door mid-January 2020.
• December 4, 2019: Melvin Theuma testifies in the court that he had been working under Yorgen Fenech’s orders to murder Daphne. He chronicles how he paid three men to do the job. He claims that he had been given no money for himself and that Yorgen was the only mastermind behind the murder. He also referenced meetings with Keith Schembri and Head of Customer Care Santro Craus, who he claimed said he would help him get a government job.
• December 5, 2019: Yorgen Fenech implicates the former chief of staff by stating that he was given updates on the case by the official into the proceedings of the investigation. He knew that his phone had been tapped. He was in court to ask that the police chief in charge of the case be removed because of his relationship to Schembri.
• December 5, 2019: Groups ask for transparency into the public inquiry set to begin on December 6. The groups include Reporters Without Borders and Article 19. In a statement, the European Parliament said: “MEPs remain concerned that, with Prime Minister Muscat in place, integrity is at risk.”

2020

• 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. Read more here.

• June 15, 2020: Another trial was held about Galizia’s assassination. Ex-police commissioner Lawrence Cutajar was found to be formally investigated. He was alleged to have tipped off the self-confessed middleman Melvin Theuma in the Daphne Caruana Galizia murder about ongoing investigations. Read all details here.

• July 20, 2020: Following the brutal assassination of Maltese journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, the hatred campaign continues with calling her “saħħara” (witch), among worse dehumanizing labels. Read more here.

• July 22, 2020: Following two hearings, and a tedious wait, a public inquiry set to bring key witnesses to court was scheduled for July 22. Key witness and middleman Melvin Theuman's body was found suspiciously with a slit throat in his home; hours before the hearing. Another attempt at intimidation was this noose found outside of the courthouse on the morning of the trial. Observers commented this looks very similar to “mafia warnings towards those who turn evidence to state”. Read more here.

• August 12, 2020: Public inquiry into Daphne’s murder continues. Edward Scicluna, Finance Minister and Member of the Parliament of Malta, says that he pressurized prime minister Joseph Muscat to force Konrad Mizzi out and distance himself from Keith Schembri in his testimony.

• August 14, 2020: Yorgen Fenech, the businessman accused of Daphne's murder goes on hunger strike. He has been behind bars since late November 2019.

• August 21, 2020: Malta’s former prime minister Joseph Muscat gets questioned by police in connection with the investigation into the murder of the anti-corruption journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia. After leaving the police headquarters, Muscat says officers had “confirmed that he is not under investigation in connection with the case’’.

• August 23, 2020: Keith Schembri, former OPM chief, has written to the police commissioner and requested to speak to the team investigating Daphne murder.

• August 26, 2020: International press freedom organisations, civil society groups, journalists and family take to social media to commemorate the life and work of Daphne and ask for justice on what would have been her 56th birthday. Read more here.

• September 1, 2020: During the hearing related to compilation of evidence against Yorgen Fenech, he has been denied bail with the court ruling. The ruling was delivered by Magistrate Rachel Montebello.

• September 4, 2020: The Caruana Galizia family lawyers have made a submission to the board of public inquiry regarding the Prime Minister’s interference in the process. A signed document was presented to the inquiry by family lawyers Jason Azzopardi and Therese Comodini Cachia.

• September 9, 2020: Daphne Caruana Galizia is named one of three candidates shortlisted for the 2020 Allard Prize for International Integrity.

• September 10, 2020: Mishcon de Reya, a UK based law firm that “harassed” Daphne is being investigated by regulators. The regulators spent at least two years looking into the workings of the firm, which was entrusted by PM Muscat to operate the cash-for-passports scheme, to threaten the journalist with libel suits in the UK. Daphne revealed connections between the firm and Muscat.

• September 22, 2020: American News Channel looks into Daphne’s murder In a five-part documentary about Daphne and her murder. In the scope of the film, MSNBC travels all the way to Malta to speak to family, friends and people affected by the murder.

  Keith Schembri, former chief of staff of Joseph Muscat, is arrested. He is interrogated for bribery and money laundering allegations. The case is also part of the public inquiry for Daphne’s murder.

  Keith Schembri is released on police bail after interrogation.

• September 30, 2020: Matthew Caruana Galizia presents call logs, emails and notes - revealing Henley's plan to harass Daphne - to public inquiry.

  Daphne Caruana Galizia Foundation, Sherpa calls the National Financial Prosecutor's Office in France for investigation into French banks on Electrogas.

• October 1, 2020: Fenech’s defence claims ‘true masterminds’ of Caruana Galizia murder ‘running around outside’. His lawyers argue that their client is being denied a fair hearing.

  Former Prime Minister Joseph Muscat resigned from Malta’s parliament after a 90-second speech. His resignation comes weeks after his former chief of staff, Keith Schembri, was briefly arrested on September 22.

  During Daphne’s murder’s public inquiry, Mark Gasan states that Yorgen Fenech denied 17 Black was his and had wanted to resign from his post as director of GEM Holdings in May 2019. At the time of her death, Daphne was working through a massive cache of documents linked to accused mastermind Yorgen Fenech’s Dubai company – 17 Black.

• October 6, 2020: The compilation of evidence against Fenech continues and statements of those interrogated are presented in courts.

• October 7, 2020: Ten days before the third year anniversary of Daphne Caruana Galizia's assassination, EU Parliament introduced a journalism prize in her honour.

  Hackney-based artist Gattaldo celebrates the life of his friend Daphne in new children’s book in the hopes to rouse a generation of young journalists.

2021

• February 23, 2021: One of the suspects on trial, Vincent Muscat, pled guilty in court for murder, possession of explosives, placing the bomb, and criminal conspiracy. He was swiftly sentenced to five years in prison. The sentence was relatively lenient because of his cooperation with the security forces investigating high-profile cases.

• March 23, 2021: George and Alfred Degiorgio, two brothers accused of direct involvement in Daphne’s murder requested pardon in exchange for information. Alfred Degiorgio claimed that he can provide details regarding a former minister who commissioned the murder, while his brother George DeGiorgio offered further information on two unsolved bomb-related crimes. Daphne Caruana Galizia Foundation’s released a statement clarifying that they will not support any plea for pardon.