Jury in Malta acquits businessman in killing of investigative journalist

VALLETA, Malta -- A jury in Malta on Wednesday acquitted the Maltese businessman accused of being the mastermind of the 2017 car bomb killing of crusading investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia.Caruana Galizia’s killing shocked Europe, led to protests that toppled a prime minister and exposed a culture of impunity on the Mediterranean island nation, the European Union’s smallest.Yorgen Fenech, a prominent Maltese businessman, was indicted in 2021 on charges of complicity and criminal conspiracy. Prosecutors accused him of being the mastermind of the slaying and of having ordered and paid for it.He pleaded not guilty and the jury on Wednesday found him not guilty on both counts.Fenech was the last of a half-dozen people charged in the plot to be prosecuted. Caruana Galizia, 53, was killed on Oct. 16, 2017, by a car bomb that was detonated while she was driving near her home.She had written extensively about suspected corruption in political and business circles in Malta, with investigative reports targeting people in then-Prime Minister Joseph Muscat’s inner circle whom she accused of having offshore companies in tax havens disclosed in the Panama Papers leak. She also targ...