One of the three hitmen who allegedly murdered Daphne Caruana Galizia has again written to President George Vella, seeking a reply to his request for a pardon in return for turning state evidence.

Vincent Muscat (known as il-Koħħu) says he has spent six months waiting for a reply from the president.

Muscat was arrested in December 2017 along with Alfred and George Degiorgio and subsequently accused of having carried out the car-bomb murder on October 16, 2017.

He first unsuccessfully requested a pardon from the government in April 2018.

His lawyer, Marc Sant had then twice written to the president - in November and December 2019 - asking him to exercise his prerogative of mercy in exchange for information which the murder suspect could offer “on various yet unsolved crimes.”

Despite the earlier letters, the matter is still pending and Muscat is still in the dark, Sant told the president in his third letter.

In his earlier letters, Muscat had expressed “deep concern that his first request to be granted the prerogative of mercy might not have been handled in the proper, correct and just manner.”

Last month, in an interview with Times of Malta, Vincent Muscat’s family slammed the “delay” for a potential presidential pardon.

Under Maltese law, pardons are granted by the President, acting on the recommendation of the Justice Minister, who must in turn have discussed the matter with the attorney general and police commissioner.

Last November, self-confessed middleman Melvin Theuma was given a pardon in exchange for testimony.