Caruana Galizia family lawyers, defence clash over fairness in court proceedings in murder case

A court-appointed expert has completed 75% of a 23,000-page report in the Daphne Caruana Galizia murder case, sparking renewed concerns over delays and fair trial rights.

Lawyers for the Caruana Galizia family and the defence clashed over fairness in court proceedings, with allegations of a court decree breach through public commentary adding further tension to the case.

Expert Martin Bajada, who was requested by the parte civile in a previous sitting to redact any material from Daphne Caruana Galizia’s emails which can identify her sources and compile a report, was called on to testify. 

A lawyer representing the Attorney General asked Bajada where he has arrived so far in the compilation of his report, to which Bajada responded, “I would like to remind the Court that there are around 23,000 pages in this report. So far I have completed around 75% of it.”

He said he will be ready in January “but not before”, as Caruana Galizia had been very active in her latter days.

Jason Azzopardi, a parte civile lawyer, remarked that the family of the late Daphne Caruana Galizia would like to express its thoughts over the right of a fair trial considering the current state that the case is in, and the amount of time that has elapsed since proceedings began.

Azzopardi continued, “I would like the Court to know that the parte civile’s family has this thought, that they too have the right of a fair trial.”

Considering this, the prosecution requested the Court whether Martin Bajada could present the work that he has completed so far, to which the Court ordered that Bajada to present part of the report he has completed so far.

Defence Lawyer Charles Mercieca stated that, “it is good that we come here and talk about the right of a fair trial, but this needs to cover both that which happens inside and outside of Court”. Mercieca explained that Manuel Delia had been releasing weekly podcasts every Wednesday, which, according to Mercieca, breached a Court decree.

On 19 September 2024, Judge Edwina Grima ruled that reporting of the Daphne Caruana Galizia murder case and Yorgen Fenech’s alleged involvement should be limited to court proceedings, and ordered news site ‘NEWZ.MT’ to remove Manuel Delia’s video blog Civil society activist Manuel Delia had filed a constitutional case in bid to challenge the Criminal Court’s ban on ‘writings, declarations or public discussions’ about the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia.

He said his client, Yorgen Fenech, could not receive a fair trail “in an atmosphere of podcasts.”

Following this, Manuel Delia had filed a constitutional case in a bid to challenge judge Edwina Grima’s ban on “writings, declarations or public discussions” about the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia.

Lawyers Charles Mercieca and Gianluca Caruana Curran were the defence counsel.