Yorgen Fenech, the man who is charged with being an accomplice in the Daphne Caruana Galizia assassination has called upon the public inquiry into the murder not to refer to him in its final conclusions so as not to “trample further” upon his rights.

After repeated requests to the inquiry board went unheeded, Fenech’s lawyers have filed a note highlighting the procedure followed throughout months of hearings before the panel of judges.

Leading questions, tinged with sarcasm and with a manifestly political motivation were not in line with procedural laws and also fell outside the terms of reference of the inquiry itself, said the lawyers.

Moreover, all throughout the inquiry, Fenech was persistently referred to as murder “mastermind”, when he strongly rebuts such allegation. 

Such reference is, therefore, wrong and manifestly against Fenech’s right to presumption of innocence, considering further that all his requests for information and legal representation before the inquiry appear to have been “completely ignored”.

Fenech had asked for the board minutes as well as transcripts of testimonies, but the board seemed to ignore those requests, declaring that testimonies were public and so “accessible to all”.

Another request made in October concerning testimonies heard behind closed doors, also appears to have gone unheeded.

The judges had heard submissions by the family lawyers on that request and proceeded to decide upon the matter without hearing what Fenech had to say.

To date, whatever the outcome of that decision, if any, has not been communicated to Fenech’s lawyers.

Likewise, the board appears to have “completely ignored” Fenech’s request to be represented at the inquiry. 

Such procedure “seriously prejudiced” the ongoing criminal proceedings where Fenech is facing accusations of complicity in the 2017 murder. 

In light of such circumstances, Fenech’s right to a fair hearing, including the presumption of innocence and the right to be represented and heard, were prejudiced.

And since he has never been a political figure nor formed part of any political group, such reference to him by the inquiry clearly fell outside its terms of reference and should not feature in the board’s conclusions or motivations, argued Fenech’s lawyers. 

The board’s report was to include no reference to Fenech so that his right to a fair hearing was not trampled upon any further, the lawyers argued.
Lawyers Gianluca Caruana Curran, Marion Camilleri and Charles Mercieca signed the note.