Commotion broke out in court on Thursday as two of the men charged with detonating the explosive device which killed Daphne Caruana Galizia claimed their rights were being breached. 

Brothers Alfred and George Degiorgio lashed out at the magistrate and the Attorney General’s office, saying they were being treated differently to the other suspects.

The two men, who are charged alongside Vincent Muscat, had wanted the secret recordings between murder suspect Yorgen Fenech and middleman Melvin Theuma to be heard in their compilation of evidence. 

But as soon as they heard the request had been turned down, George Degiorgio lashed out at Magistrate Claire Zammit Stafrace as she left the court room, demanding to know whether she had heard the recordings.

"Has she heard the recordings? Then tell her to get them here [in these proceedings]”

George Degiorgio then stood up, walked out of the dock, pointing an accusing finger at deputy AG Philip Galea Farrugia.

So it’s one way for Yorgen and for us it’s different

“You at the AG are breaching our rights," he said, as Alfred Degiorgio had to be restrained by the guards.

“So it’s one way for Yorgen and for us it’s different,” they complained, voices raised, as guards rushed to apply handcuffs, while family members of the victim sat in silence.

Yorgen Fenech and Melvin Theuma.

“Now you wait and see who will prevail,” the angry duo went on, gesturing in the direction of Galea Farrugia, parte civile lawyer Jason Azzopardi and inspector Shawn Pawney at the prosecution desk.

Meanwhile, Vincent Muscat scuttled away to another corner, not uttering a word. Times of Malta reported that Muscat is trying to negotiate a reduced jail term in exchange for admitting his guilt about the 2017 assassination.

The court also cleared Melvin Theuma to continue testifying in the compilation of evidence following his stabbing incident last July. The decision was taken following the evaluation of three psychiatrists.

On January 13, lawyers argued over which recordings of Theuma were to be presented in the case, with defence lawyers saying they were not comfortable with the prosecution deciding which recordings were relevant to the case and which were not. 

George Degiorgio 55, known as Iċ-Ċiniż, Alfred Degiorgio, 53, known as il-Fulu and Vincent Muscat, 55, known as il-Koħħu were arrested in December 2017, nearly two months after the assassination of Caruana Galizia. 

Lawyer William Cuschieri appeared for the Degiorgio brothers while Marc Sant appeared for Vince Muscat.