Updated 6.15pm

Daphne Caruana Galizia’s son has strongly condemned a court’s decision to grant bail to Yorgen Fenech, directly blaming the prime minister and justice minister for failing to reform the system.

In a social media post shortly after the court decision, Matthew Caruana Galizia did not hold back.

"The blame for killers being released on bail without any trial date in sight lies with the prime minister and the minister of justice. They had five years to fix the system and did nothing. Failure after failure by the courts, it’s become increasingly clear whose side they’re on. The side of criminals and not regular people."

In another post, Caruana Galizia urged the public to understand the horror of victims' families knowing that the suspects are out on bail.

In a statement shortly afterwards, the Daphne Caruana Galizia Foundation said: "Daphne was assassinated on 16 October 2017 for telling the truth. The Maltese State failed to protect Daphne's life and it is now failing her in death. Almost eight years on, justice for her murder has not been delivered. The bomb that killed Daphne was a warning: the justice system is failing the victims of organised crime."

The Nationalist Party endorsed those statements, saying that "the Labour Government is the biggest obstacle to justice in our country." 

"It is unacceptable that the relatives of victims of homicides and other serious crimes are subjected to ordeal after ordeal in their quest to obtain the justice they are entitled to," the party said through its MP Karol Aquilina.

"Consequently, the Partit Nazzjonalista expresses its full solidarity with the Caruana Galizia family and the relatives of other victims who are enduring the same ordeal due to the Government’s foot-dragging."

In reaction, the Labour Party accused the PN of "interfering in judicial processes".

"The PN, now completely led by the extremist faction within it, is only able to come up with deeply politically partisan comments when faced by independent court decisions," it said.

PN MEP and European Parliament President Roberta Metsola said the system was "designed to fail". 

"A system that forces those accused of the most heinous crimes to be allowed out of jail on bail because their trial by jury took more than half a decade to get underway, is a system that is broken," she wrote. 

Justice Ministry: AG objected and is ready for trial

In a statement, the Justice Ministry said prosecutors had objected to Fenech being granted bail and that the decision was taken by the court, which deemed the guarantees provided by the defendant to be sufficient. 

"The prosecution is ready for the trial by jury, which must be appointed by the judge," the Ministry said. 

Without directly mentioning the Caruana Galizia family, it said that it felt obliged to "clarify comments about court decisions that are based on political arguments, with no basis in fact or logic." 

The reactions come as Fenech steps out of prison for the first time since December 2019 after being charged in connection with the murder of Caruana Galizia. He is pleading not guilty. 

Fenech must pay an €80,000 deposit and €120,000 personal guarantee while his aunt Moira Fenech is to serve as his guarantor. There is still no set date for a trial by jury in connection with the murder of Caruana Galizia in October 2017.

The Tumas businessman has made multiple attempts to get bail, with his lawyer repeatedly arguing that he must be freed because more than 30 months had elapsed since a bill of indictment against him was issued.

'Decision underlines unjust delays in justice system'

The decision to grant Fenech bail after five years of arrest with no jury date set was also derided by rule-of-law NGO Repubblika. 

"We are concerned because Yorgen Fenech will no longer be detained until he faces jury," it said in a statement. 

Repubblika said it hoped that this "failure" of the system is immediately rectified because Malta needs and deserves justice.

In a statement, the Malta branch of free speech and literary advocacy group PEN International said the decision to grant Fenech bail "underlines the chronic, unjust delays in our justice system."

PEN Malta said it "also exposes the government's unwillingness to fix it."

The organisation said Fenech being released without a date being set for his trial imposed "unbearable pain" on Carauana Galazia's friends and family.

"It is clear to everyone that our justice system is broken, even when it concerns the most high-profile case in years", it added. 

This story will continue to be updated