A judge has turned down a request by Melvin Theuma for the government to be included in a lawsuit filed by the late Daphne Caruana Galizia’s heirs.
The request had been filed by Theuma’s lawyers in August pending the lawsuit that was instituted by the Caruana Galizias in October 2020 against a number of players allegedly involved in the murder plot.
The case was originally instituted against businessman Yorgen Fenech who is awaiting trial as alleged accomplice, alleged hitmen George and Alfred Degiorgio, self-confessed hitman Vincent Muscat as well as Theuma, who admitted his role as middleman in exchange for a presidential pardon and testimony about the 2017 murder.
Subsequently, brothers Robert and Adrian Agius together with their associate Jamie Vella as alleged suppliers of the bomb that killed the journalist, were added along with the other respondents upon request by the victim’s family.
However, a similar request by Theuma’s lawyers to have the State joined in the civil suit was shot down by Madam Justice Anna Felice on Thursday.
That request was made in the wake of findings of the public inquiry into the assassination which concluded that the State ought to shoulder responsibility for having created an atmosphere of impunity that resulted in the collapse of the rule of law.
In its decree on Thursday, the First Hall, Civil Court observed that it was the applicant who chose the type of action and the course to be followed.
Citing relative case law, the judge said that the instrument of joinder in the suit could not be requested when “the responsibility of the defendant vis-à-vis the applicant was undoubted, independently of whatever relationship he might have with someone else…”
Turning to the request at hand, the court observed that the manner whereby the case had been instituted ensured a perfectly integral decision and, thus, there was no need for the government to be joined as a respondent.
The case continues.
Lawyer Joseph Zammit Maempel is assisting the applicants. Lawyers Matthew Brincat and Kathleen Calleja Grima are assisting Theuma. Lawyer Anna Mallia is assisting Fenech. Lawyers Alfred Abela and Rene Darmanin are assisting the Agius brothers and Vella. Lawyer William Cuschieri is assisting the Degiorgios.