Malta jury sentences 2 men to life in prison for supplying bomb that killed journalist

Flowers and a candle lie in front of a portrait of slain investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia during a vigil outside the law courts in Valletta, Malta, Tuesday, Oct. 16, 2018. (AP Photo/Jonathan Borg, File)

VALLETTA, Malta — Two men were sentenced to life in prison on Tuesday after being convicted of complicity in the murder of Maltese journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia.

Jamie Vella and Robert Agius were accused of supplying the bomb that killed Caruana Galizia. Both were found guilty of the charges last week and on Tuesday were given the maximum sentence of life in prison.

Caruana Galizia, 53, was murdered on Oct. 16, 2017, by a car bomb that was detonated while she was driving near her home.

The journalist had written extensively about suspected corruption in political and business circles in Malta. Her murder shocked Europe and triggered angry protests in Malta. At the time of her death, she was facing more than 40 libel suits.

The six-week trial also concerned the separate murder of a lawyer, Carmel Chircop, who was shot and killed in 2015. Two other men, George Degiorgio and Adrian Agius, were convicted and sentenced to life in prison for that murder on Thursday.

George Degiorgio and his brother Alfred Degiorgio both pleaded guilty in 2022 to carrying out the murder of Caruana Galizia. They were each sentenced to 40 years in prison.

A third man, Vincent Muscat, pleaded guilty in 2021 for his role in the Caruana Galizia murder, and was sentenced to 15 years in prison. He testified in the recent jury trial after being granted a presidential pardon for his role in the Chircop murder on the condition he tell the whole truth.

Yorgen Fenech, a prominent Maltese businessman, is currently out of jail on bail awaiting trial on charges of alleged complicity in the Caruana Galizia murder.