Tonight's verdict does not close the case for us or for anyone who has followed Daphne's story over the past nine years, The Institute of Maltese Journalists said Wednesday.

After 55 days of trial before Madam Justice Edwina Grima, the jury found Yorgen Fenech not guilty of the charges of complicity in the wilful homicide of Daphne Caruana Galizia and criminal association to commit the murder.

This verdict must be fully respected as the outcome of the judicial process. Nonetheless, this does not mean the IGM is not disappointed with the outcome.

Daphne's murder remains unresolved in the fullest sense, and today's outcome is not the accountability many of us had hoped for. We still expect justice - full justice, nothing less - and we await what comes next in this investigation.

Someone, somewhere, placed a hit out on Daphne, and that person or persons remain disappointingly free.

The IGM called on the police to pursue all leads that emerged in the trial, including those that point to former senior political figures, in the hope that justice can prevail.