Updated 12pm

The trial of four men accused of involvement in the murders of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia and lawyer Carmel Chircop has begun.   

Brothers Adrian and Robert Agius, better known as Ta-Maksar, along with associates Jamie Vella and George Degiorgio will have their fates decided by a nine-person jury made up of six men and three women, in a trial that is set to hear several high-profile witnesses, including an ex-minister.  

The accused face up to life in prison if found guilty. 

Times of Malta is running a live blog of proceedings in court.

Proceedings on Thursday morning - day one of the trial - focused on jury selection and preliminary tasks in court, including the reading out of the lengthy bill of indictment and Madam Justice Edwina Grima's instructions to jurors. 

The court hearing was then paused for lunch and is scheduled to resume at 2pm. 

What are the crimes the accused are charged with? 

Robert Agius and Vella are accused of allegedly providing the bomb used to assassinate Caruana Galizia in October 2017.  

Degiorgio, along with his brother Alfred, is already serving a 40-year sentence after admitting to placing the bomb under Caruana Galizia’s car and triggering it outside the journalist’s Bidnija home.  

Adrian Agius and Robert Agius are better known by their nickname 'Maksar'.

In the other murder case on trial, Adrian Agius is accused of commissioning the October 2015 hit on lawyer Carmel Chircop, which prosecutors allege was carried out with the complicity of his brother Robert, along with Vella and Degiorgio 

All four men deny the charges.  

Police have long suspected the four men of being linked to a series of gangland killings dating back more than a decade.

Who is the key witness?

The trial is set to largely hinge on the testimony of a fifth gang member, convicted murderer Vince Muscat.  

Muscat is serving a 15-year sentence after reaching a plea deal with prosecutors to provide information about Caruana Galizia’s murder.  

Vince Muscat is serving his prison sentence.

As a result of the deal, Muscat, known as Il-Kohhu, identified Robert Agius and Vella as the bomb suppliers in the journalist’s murder.  

An initial plan to shoot the journalist through a window where she often worked on her laptop was abandoned in favour of the car bomb, Muscat says.  

He told investigators that Agius and Vella showed him and the Degiorgios how to arm the bomb and provided them with the SMS code necessary to detonate it. 

Muscat’s past testimony has also implicated ex-minister Chris Cardona and lawyer David Gatt in an aborted plot to murder the journalist two years prior to the actual assassination.  

George Degiorgio is also serving a prison sentence

Cardona and Gatt deny the claims.  

The two men, who are not facing any criminal charges, are expected to be summoned by defence lawyers as witnesses during the trial.  

Il-Kohhu's testimony will also be key in the Carmel Chircop case.  

Muscat has admitted to being paid €20,000 for his part in the murder of Chircop outside of a Birkirkara garage complex.  

The hired killer was granted a presidential pardon in 2021 to turn state witness and implicate his fellow accomplices in the lawyer’s murder.  

Muscat’s has previously testified about how he was hired by the Maksar brothers to carry out the hit, together with Vella and Degiorgio.  

The motive of the murder was connected the lawyer chasing the brothers for "thousands of euros" linked to a property, Muscat says.  

Another important witness

Melvin Theuma is expected to feature as another notable witness in the trial.  

Melvin Theuma has received a presidential pardon.

Theuma, the self-confessed middleman in Caruana Galizia’s murder, has provided police with printouts of messages exchanged between himself and Yorgen Fenech, the alleged mastermind behind the assassination.  

In an exchange from 2018, Fenech urged Theuma to warn the Maksars that the police were closing in on a Żebbuġ garage where the bomb was allegedly assembled.  

"I printed that message and handed it to the police when I was arrested," Theuma has previously testified.  

Fenech, who is separately awaiting trial over the journalist’s murder, denies any role in the assassination.