Pallade Veneta - Malta PM urges 'caution' after acquittal in journalist's murder

Abela spoke a day after the verdict, which was followed by a rally outside parliament organised by the main opposition Nationalist Party which drew hundreds of people in the Mediterranean island state.

"We should show sympathy, prudence and caution in our comments," Abela told reporters, pointing out that two separate investigations for the 2017 murder were continuing and prosecutors could appeal the decision.

Wednesday's verdict sparked outrage from civil society groups and international media freedom organisations.

Matthew Caruana Galizia, the journalist's son, said the jurors' decision was "obscene" and "pure evil".

Writing on Facebook, he said it was as if they had triggered a bomb "to blow up my mother all over again".

- 'Disturbing message' -

The Maltese parliament will hold a special session on Friday to debate the case following a request from Nationalist Party leader Alex Borg.

The well-connected defendant, Yorgen Fenech, walked out of court after the verdict as a free man to shouts of "Assassin!" from some protesters.

Five people have been convicted so far in relation to the murder for supplying the explosives and carrying out the killing.

The Committee to Protect Journalists in a statement said it would continue to "seek accountability for all those involved in her murder".

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

"The verdict means that almost nine years since the assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia, the Maltese authorities have failed to identify and convict the mastermind," RSF said in a statement.

"Full justice must be served and Maltese authorities must implement the long overdue measures protecting journalists and media freedom."

European Parliament president Roberta Metsola wrote a Facebook post addressed to "Dear Daphne", saying: "We will not give up and we will not give in."

- 'Institutional failures' -

Dubbed a "one-woman WikiLeaks", Caruana Galizia exposed corruption at the highest level in the country, shining a spotlight on murky links between Malta's business and political elites.

Her slaying put Malta, the European Union's smallest member state, in the spotlight over its apparent rule-of-law failings.

The killing also led to a political crisis, and the resignation of then-premier Joseph Muscat in January 2020 after widespread anger and mass protests over his perceived efforts to protect friends and allies from the investigation.

A two-year public inquiry published in July 2021 concluded that the state should "shoulder responsibility" for the murder due to the "atmosphere of impunity" the government had created.

Fenech, a tycoon whose business interests spanned the energy and tourism sectors, was arrested on his yacht in 2019 as he tried to sail out of Malta after a middleman in the murder was offered a pardon to identify those involved.

Prosecutors had accused Fenech of ordering the journalist to be killed because she was on the brink of publishing a compromising article about his uncle.

Caruana Galizia was 53. She was survived by a husband and three sons.

In June 2025, Robert Agius and Jamie Vella were convicted of supplying the bomb that killed her and sentenced to life in prison.

The three men who carried out the murder -- brothers George and Alfred Degiorgio together with Vince Muscat -- are serving prison sentences after being found guilty of their role.

"Accountability is now overdue for all those who enabled, facilitated, or protected her murderers," her family said in a statement on Tuesday.

"Nine years after Daphne's brutal assassination, the institutional failures that enabled her murder remain unaddressed and unreformed."

R.Lagomarsino--PV