Newly-appointed judge Aaron Bugeja has been drawn by lot to preside over the trial of the three men accused of having killed journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia. 

The Attorney General on Tuesday filed a bill of indictment formally charging them with the murder. 

Vincent Muscat and Degiorgio brothers Alfred and George were arrested in December 2017 and have spent the past 19 months in and out of court as prosecutors presented evidence they had compiled against them.

It is alleged that they planted and set off the bomb which killed Ms Caruana Galizia as she drove out of her residence on October 16, 2017. Police investigations are continuing, amid suspicions that the three were not the actual masterminds of the crime.

A bill of indictment is a formal legal document accusing people of a criminal act and leads to them standing trial for their alleged crimes.  According to Maltese law, suspects must be served with a bill of indictment within 20 months of facing charges or else be eligible for bail.

It is not known when the trial will start.

Mr Justice Bugeja, who was promoted from magistrate to judge in April, had carried out the magisterial inquiry into claims that Egrant was owned by Prime Minister Joseph Muscat's wife, Michelle. He had found  no evidence to support this claim. 

Vince Muscat (centre) and brothers Alfred and George Degiorgio.