The court gathering evidence against the men accused of the murder of journalist Dahne Caruana Galizia has extended the remit of a retired judge employed in the Daphne Caruana Galizia murder case to examine her laptops for threats, but has blocked the request for the examination of her entire website.

In a decree handed down this morning, Magistrate Claire Stafrace Zammit ruled that the defendant’s request for the examination of the website was not necessary as it was exhibited in the acts of the case and was public.

This emerged during the compilation of evidence against brothers George an Alfred Degiorgio and Vincent Muscat last Wednesday, after defence counsel William Cuschieri asked that the victim’s laptops and website be analysed for threatening messages.

Retired judge Michael Mallia had previously been appointed to examine the murdered journalist’s WhatsApp messages, but during the last sitting was requested by the defence to examine a laptop exhibited in the records of the case as well as the victim’s blog “Running Commentary.”

The request was fiercely opposed by the prosecution, with Inspector Keith Arnaud pointing out that the website ran into thousands of pages, which had been left untouched since the murder. The information was also in the public domain and had already been exhibited, he said.

There were no other laptops besides those already exhibited in the case, he said.

Parte civile lawyer Jason Azzopardi questioned the necessity of analysing the website.

The court extended the remit of judge Mallia to examine her laptops for threats, but turned down the request for the examination of her entire website, saying that it was in the public domain and was already in the records of the case.