The Cabinet on Monday rejected a request for pardon submitted by one of the three alleged hitmen in the Daphne Caruana Galizia case

The request by Vince Muscat, known as il-Kohhu, was discussed by the Cabinet on Monday.

In a statement on Wednesday, the government said that the President of the Republic had, after noting the direction of Cabinet who were basing themselves off of the recommendations of the Attorney General and the Police Commissioner, refused Muscat's application for a presidential pardon.

Muscat, together with Alfred and George Degiorgio, are accused of planting and detonating a bomb which killed the journalist in October 2017.

Muscat denies the charges and last year submitted a request for a pardon in exchange of information. A presidential pardon has already been granted to middleman Melvin Theuma.

Prime Minister Robert Abela is understood to have informed the Cabinet that he had received legal advice against granting the pardon to Muscat.

It is not known if Abela abstained when the decision was taken.

Last year the prime minister said he was consulting over whether he should recuse himself from the decision about Muscat's pardon as he had previously provided legal services to some of the people Muscat named to police.