Honestly, if you were walking through the quiet village of Bidnija on that Monday afternoon in October 2017, nothing would have seemed out of the ordinary. Just another humid day in the Mediterranean. Then, a Peugeot 108 exploded.
The blast was so violent it threw the car wreckage across a field. Inside was Daphne Caruana Galizia, a woman who had spent thirty years becoming the most feared person in Malta. She wasn't a politician or a billionaire. She was a journalist with a blog that sometimes got more hits than the entire population of the island.
People often think this was just a "random" act of violence by a few thugs. It wasn't. It was a surgical strike against the person who was basically the only one holding the country's elite accountable.
The Woman Who Knew Too Much
You’ve gotta understand the vibe in Malta back then. It’s a tiny place. Everyone knows everyone. To speak out against the government isn't just a political act; it’s social suicide. But Daphne didn't care.
She was digging into the Panama Papers. She found links between the Prime Minister’s inner circle—specifically Keith Schembri and Konrad Mizzi—and secret offshore companies. She was tracing money moving from Azerbaijan into the pockets of Maltese officials.
Her blog, Running Commentary, was brutal. She used words like "crooks" and "mafia" without blinking. By the time she died, she was facing 43 different libel suits. They were trying to bleed her dry financially. When that didn't work, they used 200 grams of TNT.
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Who Actually Did It? (The 2026 Update)
For a long time, the investigation felt stuck. But as of January 2026, the puzzle pieces have mostly fallen into place, even if the legal system in Valletta moves like molasses.
The "hitmen" weren't masterminds. They were career criminals. George and Alfred Degiorgio are currently serving 40-year sentences after they finally admitted to planting and detonating the bomb. A third man, Vince Muscat (no relation to the former PM), took a plea deal for 15 years in exchange for spilling everything he knew.
Then you have the "suppliers." In June 2025, a jury found Robert Agius and Jamie Vella guilty of providing the military-grade explosives used in the hit. They got life. They were part of a gang known as Ta’ Maksar.
But here’s the part that still makes people in Malta angry: Yorgen Fenech.
Fenech is a millionaire businessman, the heir to a massive casino and hotel empire. He was arrested on his yacht in 2019 while trying to flee the island. Prosecutors say he's the one who masterminded and funded the whole thing. But get this—after years in custody, he was actually granted bail in February 2025.
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Wait, what? Yeah. His lawyers argued that the delays in starting his trial violated his rights. So, the man accused of ordering the most high-profile assassination in modern European history is currently out on bail while the country waits for a trial date that never seems to come.
Why Daphne Caruana Galizia Malta Still Matters
You might wonder why we’re still talking about this years later. It’s because the murder revealed that the "state" wasn't just failing; it was complicit.
A massive public inquiry concluded in 2021 that the Maltese government "bears responsibility" for the murder. It didn't say the Prime Minister pushed the button. It said the government created a culture of impunity. Basically, they made it so easy to get away with corruption that criminals felt they could kill a journalist and nobody would lift a finger.
The fallout was huge:
- Joseph Muscat, the Prime Minister, had to resign in early 2020.
- Keith Schembri, his chief of staff, was charged with money laundering and perjury (though not the murder itself).
- Daphne's Law was passed by the EU to protect journalists from "SLAPPs"—those annoying, expensive lawsuits used to silence people.
The Reality Check
Look, things have changed, but maybe not as much as they should have. Malta still struggles. In late 2025, press freedom groups were still calling for a "National Action Plan" because journalists on the island still feel targeted.
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The Daphne Caruana Galizia Foundation, run by her sons, is still fighting to get the recommendations from the public inquiry actually implemented. They’ve noted that while the "hitmen" are in jail, the systemic corruption Daphne was writing about—the "Golden Passports" and the shady energy deals—hasn't been fully dismantled.
It’s easy to look at this as a movie script. It has the yacht, the explosives, the secret offshore accounts. But for the people in Malta, it’s a living wound. Every 16th of the month, people still gather at a memorial in Valletta to demand "Full Justice."
What You Can Actually Do
If you care about how this ends, don't just read the headlines. There are a few ways to keep the pressure on:
- Follow the money: Support the Daphne Caruana Galizia Foundation. They fund investigative journalism that continues her work.
- Watch the SLAPP laws: Keep an eye on how your own country implements the anti-SLAPP directive. These laws are the only thing stopping billionaires from suing small newsrooms into extinction.
- Read the actual reporting: Go back and look at the The Shift News or the Times of Malta. They are still digging into the same scandals Daphne started, like the Vitals hospital deal that was eventually annulled by the courts because it was fraudulent.
The story of Daphne Caruana Galizia isn't just about a murder. It's about whether a small country can actually be a democracy if the people in charge are allowed to decide what's true. Full justice isn't just a prison sentence for the guy who paid for the bomb; it’s the total cleanup of the system that made the bomb possible in the first place.