VALLETTA (MALTA) (ITALPRESS/MNA) – Maltese Judge Edwina Grima has rejected a defence request to discharge the jury in the trial of businessman Yorgen Fenech in Valletta, who is accused of complicity in the murder of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia and of criminal conspiracy to commit murder.
The request was made over concerns that jurors may have been exposed to news headlines through tablets provided by the court. IT expert Martin Bajada identified 489 pages of browsing history and headlines that could potentially have been viewed, but there was no evidence that the jurors had actually read them.
The tablets allowed users to view headlines and images, but not full articles or social media. Grima therefore found insufficient evidence that the jury’s impartiality had been compromised. The defence had argued that even the possibility of accessing information from outside the trial could undermine the jurors’ isolation.
Following the judge’s decision, the defence began presenting its case, with Fenech taking the stand in the afternoon as its first witness. Fenech has pleaded not guilty. Caruana Galizia was killed on 16 October 2017 by a bomb planted in her car.
– Photo Net News –
(ITALPRESS).
