Three charged in murder of Maltese journalist

Dec. 5 (UPI) -- Three men have been charged in the murder of Maltese journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, who was killed by a car bomb last month.

The three suspects include brothers George Degiorgio,55, and Alfred Degiorgio, 53, as well as Vincent Muscat, 55.

All three pleaded not guilty and were remanded in custody after a preliminary court hearing.

They were among 10 Maltese nationals arrested on Monday in connection with Galizia's murder.

Investigators focused on the three suspects based on telephone intercepts including a call from a mobile phone that allegedly triggered the bomb, the Times of Malta reported.

Galizia, 53, was killed when a car bomb exploded in her vehicle in October, after she filed a police report 15 days earlier to reveal she had been threatened.

Prior to her death she accused Malta's Prime Minister Joseph Muscat of wrongdoing, linking him and his wife to the Panama Papers -- some of which detailed financial information including fraud and tax evasion.