Daphne Caruana Galizia's murderers to testify in Joseph Muscat libel case

Sean Montebello - 08. May. 2023

George and Alfred Degiorgio are due to testify in June in a libel case instituted by disgraced former prime minister Joseph Muscat against lawyer Christian Grima.

The two brothers, who pleaded guilty to the assassination of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia and were sentenced to 40 years, are due to appear in June since the request by Grima’s lawyers was reportedly filed too late in the day for them to be escorted to court from prison.

Muscat had initiated libel proceedings in May 2021 over a Facebook post published by Grima in response to vague and euphemistic comments made by Michelle Muscat, the former prime minister’s wife, in which she referred to the Caruana Galizia’s brutal assassination as “what happened to her”.

Grima’s response was captioned “Your husband blew her up, Michelle. That’s what happened to her.”

Muscat claimed that the Facebook post could only be interpreted as accusing him directly of the murder. He said that the Daphne Caruana Galizia public inquiry “found that I had no involvement in the murder”.

While the public inquiry did not find Muscat personally accountable, it did find that the State, under Muscat’s premiership, was responsible for the murder by creating a “culture of impunity” in which it was committed.

The case had been dropped in December 2021 after Muscat failed to appear in court three consecutive times but it has since been reopened.

In a Facebook post at the time, Muscat had said that his failure to appear in court was due to an “oversight,” only to then claim that it was actually due to Grima’s lawyer using “a technicality rarely used by lawyers”.

Muscat’s ‘technicality’ was an article within the Code of Organization and Civil Procedure which meant that since the former prime minister failed to appear in court, Grima could avoid court costs, with Muscat having to pay them instead.

The reopened case, set to continue in June, is presided over by Magistrate Victor Axiak, with Pawlu Lia assisting Joseph Muscat and Carl Grech assisting Christian Grima.

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Klaus

2 years ago

The world famous or better infamous Joseph Muscat.
Again. And again. And again.

I wonder what his children think about his “Dad”..
What his party colleagues often think about him and his wife
is more than a bit “creepy”.

If only they would say it so openly.

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makjavel

2 years ago

If Pawlu Lia, an expert in the use of the legal technicalities of getting his clients off the hook, did not know of this technicality, that is his fault. If Muscat wants he can sue his lawyer for damages.

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mark

2 years ago

Ic-Ciniz u l-Fula ghandhom opportunità tad-deheb issa biex bil-fatti u bil-gurament – mhux bil-paroli jew bl-ittri – juruna li “mhumiex mostri kif qed jaghmluhom in-nies”.

Ghandhom quddiemhom ic-cans biex jghidulna u jipprezentaw il-provi dwar kulma jafu biex verament “iz-zejt jitla’ f’wicc l-ilma”, kif iridu huma stess.

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Joe

2 years ago

Joseph Muscat does not qualify for a legal aid lawyer paid by the taxpayers.
So he gets a pro bono lawyer by the name of Pawlu Lia.
One day Pawlu will seek compensation for services rendered to Muscat over the years, and surely Muscat will square off Lia’s bill with a bottle of Petrus and a Bvulgari watch.
A win-win situation for the two who deserve each other.

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Klaus

2 years ago

Whatever the judges decide:

If someone like Joseph Muscat creates the area not regulated by law,
if someone like Joseph Muscat thereby encourages other people to commit injustice, as long as he is deeply involved and complicit.
(The question is quite simple: why would anyone do such a thing, if not ….?)

From my personal point of view, he would thereby put more guilt on sight than someone who pulls the trigger, because he made the atrocity possible.