Yorgen Fenech’s lawyers are requesting the court, presiding over journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia’s murder compilation, to ensure that electronic data concerning third parties who are unrelated to the case, is not divulged in public.
The request was made in an application filed by the lawyers of the businessman who stands accused of complicity in the assassination Caruana Galizia by means of a car bomb explosion close to her Bidnija home, on October 16, 2017.
The records of the murder inquiry were presented during the last sitting at the compilation proceedings on October 6.
Those voluminous records included electronic data as well as a copy of data from Fenech’s mobile phone. The device is still in Europol’s possession.
The phone is to be presented in court by Europol officers in the coming weeks, as stated by prosecuting inspector Keith Arnaud when testifying in the murder compilation.
Yet, the lawyers pointed out that the electronic data referred to included information related to third parties who were private citizens, totally unrelated to the case.
Divulging all data in public would prejudice the right to the privacy of such individuals and would not serve the interests of justice, the lawyers argued, pointing out that there had already been various leaks of data from Fenech’s mobile phone, as evidenced by media reports.
A similar concern had been voiced during an earlier sitting of the compilation, in respect of mobile phones and other devices belonging to Melvin Theuma, the lawyers said.
On that occasion, the court had upheld a suggestion for the setting up of a data room, allowing access to all parties for the purpose of selecting that data which was relevant to the case.
For this reason, the lawyers were making a similar request in respect of Fenech, asking the court, presided over by magistrate Rachel Montebello, to appoint an expert who would be tasked with setting up this data room, which would be limitedly accessible to the parties and for the purpose of selecting the data relevant to the case.
Lawyers Gianluca Caruana Curran, Charles Mercieca and Marion Camilleri signed the application.