Three men suspected of murdering Maltese journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia have been formally charged, according to a statement by the Maltese Minister of Justice on Tuesday.
The three detainees, brothers Alfred Degiorgio and George Degiorgio and Vince Muscat, all in their fifties, were arrested on 4 December 2017.
Attorney General Peter Grech issued a bill of indictment which accuses Muscat, 55, of allegedly being the spotter who watched the journalist leave her home in Bidnija, while one of the Degiorgio brothers is alleged to have triggered the bomb using a mobile phone while on a yacht in Valletta harbour.
News of their indictment comes days before the deadline after which they would have had to have been released on bail. Last week, the government of Joseph Muscat, agreed to a request by the Council of Europe to create a public commission of inquiry within a three-month period.
This commission, which should be established before mid-September, will be tasked with determining whether it would have been possible to prevent the attack that claimed the journalists life.
It will also look at how similar murders could be avoided in future and what needs to be done to ensure that cases of high-level corruption such as those disclosed by Ms Caruana Galizia are properly investigated.
Daphne Caruana Galizia investigated connections between the Maltese political class, including Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, and organised crime.
