A lawyer facing libel proceedings filed by former Prime Minister Joseph Muscat wants jailed hitmen Alfred and George Degiorgio to testify in the case, a court heard today.

The former PM had filed for libel against lawyer Christian Grima over a Facebook post in which Grima suggested that Muscat had a hand in the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia.

In May 2020, Grima had shared a Facebook post, previously published by the PN’s youth wing MZPN in December 2019. It showed a clip from an interview given by the former Prime minister’s wife, Michelle, on TVM programme Xtra in August 2018.

In the clip, Michelle Muscat claimed to be more sorry about “what happened to” Caruana Galizia than the victim’s family because she now had to live with the “lies” the journalist had written about her.

In his comment accompanying the clip, Grima wrote: “What happened to her? Your husband blew her up, Michelle. That is what happened.”

In later testimony during the libel case, Muscat had rejected the assertion, insisting that Grima had crossed a line.

When the case continued before magistrate Victor Axiak on Monday morning, the court noted that Grima’s defence counsel had requested the testimony of the men who were jailed killing the journalist.

The court noted that the request had been filed on May 3, but had been held back in view of the short time frame.

Lawyer Pawlu Lia, representing Joseph Muscat, asked who had been summonsed. “Alfred and George Degiorgio” replied Grima’s lawyer Karl Grech.

The magistrate asked the defendant and his lawyer what they realistically expected the Degiorgios to say. “They are crying out to testify,” Grima replied. “A few days ago, they released a statement to this effect.”

The questions would be about the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia, confirmed the lawyer. 

The court adjourned the case to June.