On 16 October 2017, Maltese investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia was assassinated by a car bomb just outside her home. For years, she had investigated corruption, money laundering and political connections through her journalism and her widely read blog Running Commentary. Her murder shocked Malta and drew international attention to questions about the country’s rule of law and the protection of journalists.
Her final blog post, published just minutes before her death, ended with the words: “There are crooks everywhere you look now. The situation is desperate.”
Almost nine years later, on 2 September 2026, prominent Maltese businessman Yorgen Fenech was acquitted of charges relating to her murder. He had been accused by prosecutors of masterminding the killing and was the last of the men charged in connection with the assassination to face trial.
The nine-member jury reached an 8–1 verdict on both charges. Three men convicted of carrying out the bombing and two others convicted in connection with supplying the bomb are serving prison sentences, but no one has been convicted of commissioning Caruana Galizia's murder. For many of those who gathered in Valletta, this is at the heart of their anger and frustration: the people who carried out the killing have been convicted, while the man prosecutors accused of ordering it has been acquitted.
The gathering on 16 September grew out of the monthly vigils held since Caruana Galizia's death — 107 so far. The memorial opposite the Courts of Justice, surrounded over the years by photographs, flowers, messages and candles, became the destination of a much larger solidarity protest following the acquittal.
The case has become about more than one murder trial. It has come to represent an ongoing debate in Malta about the safety of journalists, accountability, political corruption, and the strength of its democratic institutions.
These photographs are my record of this protest in Valletta — a crowd remembering what happened, reacting to what had just happened, and making it clear that, for many, the story is not over.
