Malta: CFWIJ Demands Justice For Daphne Caruana Galizia With Maximum Penalties For Her Killers As Suspects Push For Plea Bargains

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Location: Malta, Valletta  
Date: July 6, 2022

Photo Credit: Pippa Zammit Cutajar

In a stunning confession to Reuters, George Degiorgio, accused of detonating the car bomb that killed prominent investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, said that it was “just business”. Had he known who Daphne - Malta’s “one-woman WikiLeaks'' - was, he would have asked for more money for the assassination. The Coalition For Women In Journalism is appalled at the stone cold revelations and complete lack of remorse by Degiorgio, who has made multiple requests for a presidential pardon in exchange for information while denying involvement. We demand maximum penalties for the killers of Daphne and stand with the brave journalist’s family and friends fighting for justice. The Daphne Caruana Galizia Foundation has explicitly stated they would not support any pleas for pardon. Murderers of journalists need to held accountable.

Degiorgio’s confession comes after multiple attempts by his lawyers since 2021 to secure a presidential pardon in exchange for information. He had denied involvment in the brutal murder before this interview given from prison - his first public comment on the case. 

On June 22, 2022, an appeal’s court in Malta rejected all petitions by Degiorgio and his brother Alfred to legally oppose the murder charges against them, reported Reuters. The verdict clears the way for the brothers’ trial to finally begin. 

Admitting that his motive was to secure a sentence reduction for himself and Alfred, Degiorgio told Reuters that he would plead guilty ahead of any jury trial. He added that he would implicate others, including prominent Maltese political figures and former ministers, involved in the plot to assassinate Daphne. “We’re not going down alone!”

For his own role in the cold-blooded premeditated killing, Degiorgio expressed no remorse. "For me it was just business. Yeah. Business as usual!" he told a Reuters reporter. He later added, "Of course I feel sorry."

In fact, Degiorgio felt that he undersold the transaction. “"If I knew, I would have gone for 10 million. Not 150,000 [euros]," he said, referring to the amount he was reportedly paid for killing the journalist.

Degiorgio told Reuters he is willing to testify against a top Maltese political figure who allegedly tried to have Daphne killed in a separate plot in 2015. He added he would also offer a testimony against two senior former ministers allegedly involved in an armed robbery. 

Maltese police and prosecutors have yet to make an official comment on Degiorgio’s remarks, according to Guardian. 

The interview was conducted during research for a podcast entitled “Who Killed Daphne?” which is reportedly due to air globally later this month. 

The Degiorgio brothers were named in the testimony of another accused Vincent Muscat, who pled guilty on February 23, 2021, to not just murder, but also possession of explosives, placing of the bomb and criminal conspiracy. Muscat was sentenced to a reduced term of 15 years in jail, a relatively lenient sentence because of his cooperation with the police. He was also ordered to pay 42,930 euros (around $52,000) in court expenses.

In a separate statement to Reuters through their lawyer, George and Alfred Degiorgio said that with their admission they seek a judgment “in line with that already handed down to Vincent Muscat”. 

Since Daphne’s brutal murder in 2017, seven men have been either arrested or charged for their involvement in the pre-meditated murder, including property and energy tycoon Yorgen Fenech, as well as Melvin Theuma, a taxi driver who confessed to being a middleman. Five of them have entered some sort of deal with the state in exchange for leniency in their sentencing.

“We are willing to divulge everything we know about other murders, bombs and crimes provided we receive a pardon. We emphasize that the families of other victims should be served justice too," read the Degiorgio brothers’ statement to Reuters. 

Brutal murder

On October 16, 2017, Malta’s most prominent and widely-read investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galiza was assassinated by a powerful car bomb detonated outside her Bidnjia home. 

Known as the country’s “one-woman WikiLeaks”, Daphne was a powerful voice. She uncovered corruption in the Maltese political system and her reportage frequently shaped national discourse. 

In August 2016, she reported that the Maltese government had signed a shady deal, a 30-year-long contract of two billion euros for public hospital management, with an untested new outfit called Vitals Global Healthcare. The company had no records of health administration.

A year later, in February, 2017, economy minister Chris Cardona sued Daphne and filed precautionary warrants against her assets over the brothel gate scandal. The judge upheld the minister's request and froze Daphne’s bank accounts even before the case was heard.

Frequently holding the echelons of power accountable, she faced multiple forms of harassment and threats during her career, including SLAPPs. Once, the door of her house was set on fire. In another instance, her dog was found with his throat slit. “There are crooks everywhere you look now, the situation is desperate,” she wrote on her blog half an hour before her murder. The quote became seminal. 

 
 
 
 

Daphne’s final story led to her assassination and former prime minister Joseph Muscat's ouster in 2019. His close associates have been implicated in both - the story and the killing but the former PM has denied the allegations. 

Years since Daphne’s assasination, investigations continue but the perpetrators are yet to be convicted. In 2021, a public inquiry into Daphne’s killing held the state responsible for the murder as it had “created an atmosphere of impunity, generated by the highest echelons".

Call for maximum penalty for killers 

The CFWIJ is appalled at Degiorgio’s stone cold confessions. It is reprehensible that for him this was merely “business”. A job like any other. After years of denying involvement and vying for pardon in exchange for information, Degiorgio’s apparent regret is that he did not fully comprehend the importance of Daphne’s work at the time and asked for less money to carry out the hit.

“This case signifies horrific crimes and collaboration against an investigative journalist who dedicated her life to speaking truth to power. There should be no space for even a spec of impunity. A maximum penalty will set clear standards against killers of journalists. We need to end impunity now,” said CFWIJ Founder Kiran Nazish commenting on Degiorgio’s confessions. 

Reacting to the interview, Daphne’s son Matthew Caruana Galizia, who inherited several of the SLAPPs the journalist was battling before her assasination, told Times of Malta that “George Degiorgio's own words show he is a stone-cold killer undeserving of any reprieve”. 

Daphne’s sister Corinne Vella expressed the same in successive tweets posted shortly after the interview was published.

“The statement written by Alfred and George Degiorgio's lawyers is a cynical and divisive ploy,” wrote Corrine on Twitter, adding that the brothers could admit their crimes in court and accept the full force of justice if they truly want justice for the families of their victims. “If their outrageous request is accepted by the prosecutor, the state would be establishing a deeply disturbing precedent - that the more people you kill, the more bargaining power you have to ensure your own impunity.”

Daphne’s son, Paul Caruana Galizia, also took to Twitter to respond to Degiorgio’s statement. He also drew attention to the masterminds who hired him for the assasination. 

The Daphne Caruana Galizia Foundation has repeatedly asserted that it will not support any pardon requests. “Justice for Daphne Caruana Galizia means her murderers should not be pardoned. Past crimes should not be cashed as currency for killers to escape justice for murder,” they maintain.  

The Coalition For Women In Journalism stands with the Daphne Foundation and the journalist’s friends and family fighting for justice. We strongly condemn all those involved in the brutal and premeditated killing of Daphne Caruana Galizia and demand maximum penalties for them. We have closely followed the developments in Daphne’s case. The judgment in this case will set an important precedent for press freedom across Europe. 

It is crucial for the perpetrators to be brought to justice. This will discourage those who want to harm journalists trying to do their job and signal that there can be no immunity for crimes against journalists. It is high time that the Maltese authorities, and the international community at large, put an end to the impunity enjoyed by perpetrators of violence against journalists!

 

The CFWIJ strongly condemns the police brutality against journalists. We demand the immediate return of the press cards seized from the security forces. Policies to intimidate journalists should be abandoned, and journalism should be practiced under the criteria of freedom of the press.

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