The prosecution has filed an appeal against the acquittal of Yorgen Fenech in the trial over the murder of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia.
Lawyers from the Office of the Attorney General filed the appeal on Tuesday, a day before the deadline for doing so.
Fenech, the businessman and heir to the Tumas Group fortune, was acquitted earlier this month of charges of conspiracy and complicity in the murder. The jury returned an 8-1 verdict in his favour on both charges.
The appeal comes amid an ongoing police investigation into members of the jury. Three jurors, a reserve juror and the husband of one of the jurors were arrested following social media posts they are alleged to have made, according to a police statement. Police have also been investigating suspicions that one of the jurors had access to a mobile phone while sequestered during the trial.
All five were subsequently released on police bail and, so far, no charges have been filed against any of them.
Under Maltese law, appeals against jury verdicts are heard by three judges sitting as the Court of Criminal Appeal in its Superior Jurisdiction.
However, the prosecution's grounds for appealing a jury verdict are strictly limited. An appeal may be based on what the law describes as a "grave irregularity during the proceedings", or on an argument that the judgment resulted from a manifest misinterpretation or manifestly wrong application of the law which could have affected the verdict.
Even where such grounds are established, the appeal may still be dismissed if the judges conclude that no miscarriage of justice occurred.
The appeal therefore does not amount to a retrial of the evidence presented before the jury. The Court of Criminal Appeal will instead have to determine whether the legal conditions for overturning the jury's verdict have been met.
Possible outcomes of the appeal
The Criminal Code allows the Court of Criminal Appeal to order a retrial if it considers that the interests of justice require it.
This means if the Attorney General successfully challenges Fenech's acquittal on the relevant legal grounds, the Appeals Court could order a new trial before the Criminal Court.
In that scenario, the case would be heard afresh before the Criminal Court, a new bill indictment would have to be issued and a new jury would have to be appointed. This will not happen immediately.
The Appeals Court can also dismiss the AG's appeal, leaving the verdict intact.
The appeal will be heard by the Court of Criminal Appeal, composed of three judges. The Appeals Court is presided by Chief Justice Mark Chetcuti.