For 55 days, the country followed what was undoubtedly one of the most significant and closely watched criminal trials Malta has ever seen.

For two months and one day, witness after witness took the stand, recordings were played, allegations were made and challenged, and jurors were presented with an enormous volume of evidence surrounding the assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia.

On Wednesday night, the jury delivered its verdict. Yorgen Fenech was acquitted of both complicity in Caruana Galizia's assassination and membership of a criminal organisation, with jurors voting 8-1 for acquittal on both charges.

That verdict must be respected. Nine jurors spent weeks inside that courtroom, heard the evidence directly and listened to the arguments of the prosecution and defence.

They carried a responsibility that nobody following proceedings from outside the courtroom had to bear.

But respecting a verdict does not mean pretending that it has brought closure.

The reaction across the country has made that abundantly clear. There has been disbelief, incredulity, disappointment and frustration among sections of the public.

The verdict has dominated conversations in homes, workplaces and, especially, on social media, with many struggling to reconcile the verdict with what emerged during two months of testimony.

For Caruana Galizia's family, those emotions are inevitably far more personal.

They have spent almost nine years waiting for justice for a wife, mother and sister who was murdered in a car bomb metres from her home.

The conclusion of this trial has not brought the answers Caruana Galizia's family has been waiting for. Their anger and frustration following the verdict come after almost nine years of waiting to know who was ultimately responsible for the assassination of their wife, mother and sister.

That frustration is also being felt across the country.

Since the verdict was delivered, it has been difficult to speak of much else. There is a palpable sense of disbelief among many, accompanied by one question after another about what happens now.

Public sentiment does not determine guilt or innocence. That responsibility belonged to the nine jurors, who heard the evidence and ultimately reached an 8-1 verdict.

But the questions being asked outside the courtroom are real, and they cannot simply disappear with the end of the trial.

Above all: who commissioned the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia?

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.

Yorgen Fenech has now been acquitted.

The trial heard of relationships, conversations, warnings, allegations and contacts involving people around some of the country's most powerful institutions at the time. The verdict does not erase what was heard in that courtroom, even if the jury concluded that the charges against Fenech had not been proven beyond reasonable doubt.

And that is perhaps why there is such a powerful sense of unfinished business.

The jury has done its duty. But for Caruana Galizia's family and for a country which has spent almost nine years waiting for answers, there can be little sense of closure while the most fundamental question remains unanswered.

The trial may be over, but Malta is still waiting for answers.