A court has ruled that the trial can go ahead against two brothers alleged to have triggered the bomb that killed journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia.
Judge Audrey Demicoli rejected a request by Alfred and George Degiorgio for the trial against them to be postponed.
The two alleged hitmen in the 2017 car bombing claimed their right to a fair hearing had been breached, arguing that they could not defend themselves without a lawyer of their choice.
One of the brothers, Alfred Degiorgio, had gone on hunger strike in protest.
The judgment means criminal proceedings against the men can continue. One of the men involved in planting the bomb, Vince Muscat, has already admitted his role in the assassination and is serving a 15-year jail sentence after a plea bargain.
Businessman Yorgen Fenech has also been indicted for conspiring to murder the journalist.
The Degiorgios' bid to delay the trial came after William Cuschieri, their lawyer since their arraignment in December 2017, gave up his brief.
The Degiorgios were then assigned two legal aid lawyers to handle their defence at the trial. However the brothers argued that they were unable to set up a valid defence without the help of a lawyer of their own choice, given the scale and complexity of the process with material evidence including thousands of pages and some four gigabytes of data.
Both legal aid lawyers took the witness stand confirming that the case was voluminous and time was needed to allow them to give their “best defence.”
The Degiorgios also claim that their rights would be breached by the negative pre-trial publicity that the murder case had attracted and in view of that too, requested the interim measure postponing the trial.
The case was adjourned to Tuesday for a ruling on this preliminary request.
The court, presided over by Madam Justice Audrey Demicoli, turned down that request, thus greenlighting the trial.
The case on the merits was adjourned to next month.
Lawyer Joseph Bonnici assisted the Degiorgios as legal aid counsel.
Lawyer Maurizio Cordina represented the office of the attorney general.
Lawyers Therese Comodini Cachia, Jason Azzopardi, Eve Borg Costanzi and Peter Caruana Galizia represented the Caruana Galizia family.