Valletta (AFP) – Malta's Prime Minister called for "caution" on Thursday as anger grew on the small island after the acquittal of a wealthy businessman, accused of having ordered the car bomb attack that killed investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia.

Published on: 09/03/2026 - 1:15 p.m. Modified on: 09/03/2026 - 5:33 p.m.

The verdict was followed on Wednesday evening by a rally in front of Parliament, organized by the Nationalist Party, the main opposition group, and which brought together hundreds of people.

“We must exercise compassion, caution and restraint in our comments,” Prime Minister Robert Abela told reporters, noting that two separate investigations into the 2017 killing were still ongoing and prosecutors could appeal the previous day's decision.

Wednesday's verdict by a popular jury sparked outrage from civil society groups and international press freedom organizations. They demand justice for Daphne Caruana Galizia, tireless slayer of corruption in this small Mediterranean state.

Matthew Caruana Galizia, one of the journalist's sons, described the jurors' decision as "obscene" and "pure evil". It's like they set off a bomb "to blow my mother up again," he wrote on Facebook.

Indignation

The Maltese parliament will hold an extraordinary session on Friday to debate the matter, following a request from Nationalist Party leader Alex Borg.

Tycoon Yorgen Fenech walked free from court after the verdict, amid cries of “murderer!” launched by certain demonstrators.

Five people have so far been convicted for supplying the explosives and carrying out the attack on Daphne Caruana Galizia.

The Committee to Protect Journalists said in a statement Thursday that it would continue to "work to ensure accountability for all those involved in his murder."

The European Center for Press and Media Freedom said the verdict sent a "worrying message", while Reporters Without Borders (RSF), another media organization, said it was "beyond outraged".

“Justice must be fully served and the Maltese authorities must implement the measures awaited for too long to bring justice to Daphne and her family, and protect journalists,” RSF said in a statement.

The President of the European Parliament, Maltese Roberta Metsola (Nationalist Party), published a message on Facebook addressed to "Dear Daphne", in which she promised: "We will not give up and we will not give in."

Dubbed "WikiLeaks in her own right", Daphne Caruana Galizia exposed corruption at the highest levels of the country, shining a spotlight on the opaque links between Malta's economic and political elites.

His assassination placed this country, the smallest member of the European Union, in the spotlight, due to its apparent failures in the rule of law.

Report

The killing also led to a political crisis and the resignation of then-Prime Minister Joseph Muscat in January 2020 after massive protests against what were seen as his efforts to protect his friends and allies.

A public inquiry concluded in 2021 that the state must “take responsibility” for this murder, due to the “climate of impunity” that the government had established.

Prosecutors had accused Yorgen Fenech, very active in the energy and tourism sectors, of having ordered the assassination of the journalist because she was about to publish a compromising article about her uncle.

In October 2022, three men were found guilty of planting and detonating the bomb that killed the journalist near her home. Then in June 2025 two others were sentenced to life imprisonment for supplying the explosive used in the attack.

“It is now high time that all those who enabled, facilitated or protected these assassins are held accountable,” Daphne Caruana Galizia’s family said in a statement on Wednesday.

© 2026 AFP

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