Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1546635
5 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 20 SEPTEMBER 2026 OPINION We know the problem, we have no answer Saviour Balzan Founder and owner of Media Today, publisher of MaltaToday, he is a TV host and pollster IT is inconceivable that nine years later the murder of Daph- ne Caruana Galizia remains only partly unsolved. We need closure and the anger that fol- lowed the unexpected verdict led many people who would oth- erwise have not felt the need to join Repubblika and protest in Valletta. They included people I know, who had voted Labour and more interestingly were in the past lampooned in a cruel way by Daphne Caruana Galizia. At the time her column served as an uncouth gossip blog as much as an investigative tool. When I asked one of these protestors why he had chosen to be there, he replied: "Be- cause this is far bigger than everything else and it is not about me." In my view the Abela admin- istration has not quite under- stood how widespread the an- ger has spread in the aftermath of the Yorgen Fenech trial out- come. The 8-1 verdict delivered by jurors shocked many people. The anger is palpable. Justice has not been meted out. But the way forward is not turning the justice system into a kangaroo court. When four jurors were arrest- ed this week, the first thing on everyone's mind is that they had been bought. It turned out that they had posted or repost- ed Facebook comments that were construed to go contra- ry to their declaration on oath that they had never indulged in social media posts on the sub- ject. The general feeling is that this is a clutching at straws ex- ercise. We do not have the full pic- ture yet but it may very well be that the jurors, who were in- terrogated did actually post or repost something and possibly forgot about it. If they had known that a Face- book repost would have result- ed in their exclusion from the jury, I am sure they would have reposted hundreds of posts just to get out of what turned out to be a 55-day-long saga in the middle of summer. If a mistrial is declared be- cause of these posts—there could be other grounds for a mistrial—it will be next to im- possible to select a new jury. And what happens next will be more than a simple complica- tion. I am one who believes that Yorgen Fenech is as guilty as hell. But taking him to the gal- lows without a trial or due pro- cess is not on. Of one thing I am sure, the prosecution led by AG lawyers Anthony Vella, Godwin Cini and Danika Vella were free to act and had no interference from the state. In the eyes of many, Judge Edwina Grima acted correctly. And the police seem to have left no stone un- turned to nail Yorgen Fenech at the expense, it seems, of ex- cluding the possible involve- ment of others such a Keith Schembri. A jury is, according to Maltese law, a prerequisite and man- datory when a prosecution is seeking a life sentence. The ju- rors in a small country such as Malta are and will always be bi- ased and have an opinion. You cannot take that away. I do not use Facebook and when I did it was to write a solemn declara- tion to those who do not read MaltaToday. I cannot remem- ber when I did write or did not. And I am sure that the vast ma- jority will not remember what they reposted or posted over the years. I did not particularly fancy Caruana Galizia, indeed I was one of her sternest critics. But if I were a juror, in spite of the poor presentation by the prose- cution, I would have definitely found Yorgen Fenech guilty. As for Caruana Galizia, it sounds cliché but I uphold the Voltaire platitude. "I may dis- agree with what you say but I will defend to the death your right to say it." Malta has faced its dilemmas in the past. In 1984, during the Church school crisis brought about by the state, and given the intense, deeply polarised nature of the dispute between Prime Minister Dom Mintoff's government and the Roman Catholic Church, many judg- es voluntarily abstained from sitting on the cases or recused themselves. They did this to avoid any perception of religious or po- litical bias, or because they had personal connections to the institutions involved. It was a calamity. The Dom Mintoff government actively and sys- tematically challenged the im- partiality of the judges assigned to the case. As the government objected to one judge after an- other, the pool of eligible mem- bers of the judiciary shrank drastically. The disqualifications and rec- usals eventually whittled the available panel down to just three judges—Wallace Gulia, Stephen Borg Cardona, and Jo- seph David Camilleri. When the government at- tempted to legally challenge yet another judge from the tiny pool that remained, the Con- stitutional Court took an auda- cious step and decided to defy the government and appointed a judge. So, when people descended in the streets of Valletta last week, calling once again for justice, they were more than justified in being angry. They were right for pointing out the failings and corruption of the Muscat administration and the collusion that accompanied it, but they were at a loss on the solutions. The last thing we need to solve this crisis is a kangaroo court that ignores proper laws and decides verdicts in ad- vance. We have a problem, but the solutions cannot be knee jerk. PN leader Alex Borg says we need to change our govern- ment and instil a new moral order. Yes, ok, but what will he change to ensure that we real- ly change. The court and legal system will remain as is. What will he change? If the answer is 'changing people at the top', it will not do the trick. First of all, we need to put the criminals behind bars and then we need reforms that will guar- antee that collusion between political power and business interests and corruption are stopped in their tracks before they even entrench themselves. And that requires much more than changing the people at the top—it requires a change in laws, mentalities and attitudes. I am one who believes that Yorgen Fenech is as guilty as hell. But taking him to the gallows without a trial or due process is not on Thousands march through Valletta calling for justice over Caruana Galizia assassination (Photo: James Bianchi/MaltaToday)