The trial by jury of Yorgen Fenech resumes before Madam Justice Edwina Grima on Monday, with a new set of witnesses expected to take the stand as prosecutors continue presenting evidence in the case surrounding the assassination of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia.
Yorgen Fenech, a businessman, has pleaded not guilty to two principal charges: complicity in the wilful homicide of Daphne Caruana Galizia and criminal association to commit the murder.
Caruana Galizia, a columnist with The Malta Independent, was killed in a car bomb on 16 October, 2017.
Five men have already been convicted in connection with Caruana Galizia's assassination. Vince Muscat admitted his role in the murder in 2021 and was sentenced to 15 years' imprisonment. Alfred and George Degiorgio each received 40-year prison sentences after pleading guilty in 2022, while Robert Agius and Jamie Vella were sentenced to life imprisonment in 2025 for supplying the bomb used in the attack.
The prosecution is being led by Attorney General lawyers Godwin Cini, Anthony Vella and Danika Vella, assisted by Assistant Commissioner Keith Arnaud and Inspector Kurt Zahra. Fenech is represented by lawyers Charles Mercieca, Gianella Demarco and Gianluca Caruana Curran, while lawyers Therese Comodini Cachia and Jason Azzopardi are appearing parte civile on behalf of the Caruana Galizia family.
Judge Edwina Grima is presiding.
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10.38am The head of the Malta Security Service is tetifying behind closed doors at the request of prosecutors.
10:33 A separate report compiled after the extractions details a total of 21 exhibits seized from the Portomaso marina. Investigators underwent forensic extraction of the devices.
Another report was put together following items seized during an extraction on Level 21 of the Portomaso Business Tower.
The jurors ask the witness to indicate the relevant page of the document.
On this page, the report says that a phone was found to have been restored to factory settings.
"Was it a brand-new phone or could there have been information on it before it was reset," the jury asks. "Could you be able to tell if it was new or not? Is there a new technology that can do this?"
Here, the court interrupts, explaining that it does not matter if new technology exists to determine whether or not the phone was new.
"This is the evidence we have, and this is what we have to use today," the judge says.
The witness continues by adding that it is entirely possible that data previously existed on the device before being restored to factory settings, but there are no ways for experts to determine this.
10:19 The next witness is Europol Expert Israel Cordillo Torres. At the time of the investigation, Cordillo Torres was an ex-computer forensic expert for Europol. He is now a senior specialist forensic examiner.
Cordillo Torres has extensive experience working in computer forensics and computer science. He had been working on the case since its start.
Prosecutor Godwin Cini refers to a report made during the compilation of evidence.
The witness explains that he was appointed as a forensic examiner to support Maltese authorities working on items seized from each of Fenech's properties.
"My role was just to extract the information," Cordillo Torres tells the court. "We were tasked to extract any available information."
He explains that seven devices were seized from Office 4 on Level 3 of the Portomaso Business Centre in St Julian's.
These devices are referred to as 'exhibits.'
10:06 After that somewhat confusing testimony, Europol forensic examiner Dennis Petrou is next to testify..
Petru was responsible for extracting data from devices seized from Portomaso and Tumas Group offices.
Petrou worked at Europol between 2013 and 2021.
The witness begins detailing Europol's 'Operation Blue Elephant Malta, Portomaso Business Towers.' During this operation, a number of items were seized from a corporate office, a meeting room and a secretary's office in Portomaso Business Towers.
The items seized were:
- A laptop
- A hard-drive
- A Bluetooth device
- A laptop charger
Petrou also recalls certain details about the laptop, mentioning that its keyboard was found to be damaged.
Prosecutor Godwin Cini refers to a document which states that Petrou had extracted the data from the laptop himself.
9:55 Defence lawyer Giannella de Marco asks the witness about the content found in the pen-drive.
Calafato Testa confirms it was related to the assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia, including recorded or transcribed conversations. It also appeared that an Italian person was involved in discussions on the murder.
The witness reads a transcript taken from the pen drive along with the note which accompanied it. The note was written in Italian.
The transcript mentioned businessman Alex Azzopardi and Mario Fava, who was a political consultant for the former prime minister Joseph Muscat.
In the note, the Italian prosecutor elaborates that Azzopardi paid €35,000 through Mario Fava to initiate the process of murdering Caruana Galizia.
According to the Italian prosecutor, another €4 million would allegedly be paid out to carry out the assassination.
09:41 Monday's first witness is Stephania Calafato Testa, the court assistant registrar.
The prosecution begins by asking Calafato Testa about her connection to the investigation.
The witness explains that, in 2021, she had received an important note from the European Union Agency for Criminal Justice Cooperation (EUROJUST) through a prosecutor in Italy. Attached to this note was a pen-drive, which was later presented to the Maltese courts.
However, at the time, investigators faced issues to access the pen-drive's content, which proved inaccessible to them. It was found that this was an encrypted pen drive and required a password in order to access its content.
Consequently, the pen-drive was sent back to EUROJUST, where it was given a new password and then sent back to Malta.
9:22 Judge Edwina Grima and jurors enter the court room and take their seats.