Two men found guilty of supplying the bomb that killed Maltese journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia in 2017 have been sentenced to life in prison, the slain reporter’s family said Tuesday.
Caruana Galizia’s sister, Corinne Vella, said the family lawyers had asked “for the court to consider the devastating impact of Daphne’s brutal murder both on our family and on society”.
Following a six-week jury trial, Robert Agius, 41, and Jamie Vella, 42, were found guilty Thursday of complicity in the assassination by supplying the military-grade explosive used in the deadly car bombing near the reporter’s home.
“Her assassination created a sense in society that the people behind her murder were sure of their impunity and that the institutions that are duty-bound to protect her and society had failed,” Vella said on behalf of her family.
“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”, she said.
The three hitmen who carried out the murder — brothers George and Alfred Degiorgio together with Vince Muscat — are already in jail after pleading guilty in separate proceedings.
Businessman Yorgen Fenech, who is accused of masterminding the murder, is still awaiting trial.
Caruana Galizia was an investigative reporter who had written about cronyism and sleaze within Malta’s political and business elite.
Her murder, at age 53, drew international outrage.
There were also large protests in Malta against the then-prime minister, Joseph Muscat, over his perceived efforts to protect friends and allies from the investigation. He stepped down in January 2020.
A public inquiry published in 2021 found no evidence of state involvement in the killing, but found the government created a “climate of impunity” for those who wanted to silence Caruana Galizia.
Hitman Vince Muscat was the prosecution’s key witness in the trial against Agius and Vella, although more than 150 people testified before the jury, including relatives of Caruana Galizia, members of the FBI and a former government minister.
Muscat had also given evidence against the Degiorgio brothers, in return for a reduced sentence of 15 years for his role in the killing.
The Degiorgio brothers, who pleaded guilty on the first day of their 2022 trial, were each sentenced to 40 years.
Fenech, who had close ties with Joseph Muscat’s government, was arrested in November 2019 aboard his yacht as he tried to sail out of Malta. He was granted bail in January.
Melvin Theuma, the middleman in the murder, received a presidential pardon in 2019 and is now a state witness.