Degiorgio brothers file second request for murder pardon
Two of the men accused of killing Daphne Caruana Galizia have sent another letter to President George Vella, making a second request for a pardon.
George and Alfred Degiorgio are accused of being the hitmen who killed the journalist in October 2017. Vincent Muscat pleaded guilty to being a third hitman earlier this year in exchange for a 15 year prison sentence. He is now testifying against the brothers in court.
“That the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth is revealed and all those involved are brought to justice” does not only interest the Degiorgios’ but is “everybody’s interest,” the brothers said in their letter.
The letter, sent on Monday, comes exactly a week after the Cabinet recommended to the President that he refuse granting the Degiorgios’ first pardon request which the duo had filed in March.
In their letter, the Degiorgio brothers said that the President did not need to follow the recommendation of the Cabinet, and could exercise his prerogative to treat them “like others” and ensure a decision in their case was based on what they had to say.
The Degiorgios claim to have information implicating a former minister as a mastermind in the Caruana Galizia murder, and of there being another, as of yet unnamed, middleman in the same case. They also claim to have information about other serious crimes, including attempted robberies and a murder in which, they say, a former minister and sitting minister were involved.
In their letter, the Degiorgios express concern that “no one in Malta” seems to be willing to hear what they have to say, although they have openly stated, over and over, that they possess
“true, reliable, credible, direct” evidence about the crimes that is not hearsay.
They noted that they are afraid that nobody wants to hear what they have to say because of the public position of the people about whom they have information.
They also noted that there is a clear conflict of interest within Cabinet which cannot be dealt with by the recusal of one of its members.
This is a reference to Minister within the OPM Carmelo Abela, who recused himself from the Cabinet’s decision on the Degorgios’ first request after PN MP Jason Azzopardi alleged that Abela was promised some €300,000 for helping out in the failed 2010 HSBC heist. Abela has vehemently denied the claims and opened libel proceedings against Azzopardi.
The Degiorgio brothers said that unlike in similar pardon requests such as those of Vince Muscat and Melvin Theuma, they have not been given the opportunity to say what they knew.
Such decisions are normally taken once the prosecuting officer has spoken to the person or people requesting the pardon, as happened in the case of Theuma and Muscat, the Degiorgios’ lawyer wrote.
The Degiorgios told the President that they had only learnt of the Cabinet’s decisions through the media – something which they said was unheard of, and on which they filed a judicial protest last Tuesday.
An email from the Office of the President confirming the refusal of the request was only received by the brothers’ lawyer William Cuschieri shortly after the judicial protest was filed.
The brothers pleaded with the President to take note of their situation and to exercise his constitutional powers accordingly so that any decision may ultimately be taken, not in abstract but upon whatever “they have to say.”
Lawyer William Cuschieri signed the letter.