Judge Giovanni Grixti has turned down another request for bail made by the three men accused of the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia.
Brothers Alfred Degiorgio (known as Il-Fulu) and George Degiorgio (Iċ-Ċiniż) as well as Vince Muscat (il-Koħħu), have been under arrest since December charged with killing the journalist in a car bomb on October 16.
All of the men’s previous requests for bail have been turned down by the courts.
Read: Bail refused for three suspects charged with Caruana Galizia murder
The Attorney General had opposed the release of the three accused, in part due to ongoing investigations.
Lawyers for the three accused had argued there was no risk of their tampering with evidence or absconding.
This was contested by the Attorney General's office, which revealed that the police were still investigating third parties in connection with this murder, and therefore the possibility of the accused tampering with evidence was a real one.
In a decision handed down on Wednesday, Judge Giovanni Grixti upheld the Attorney General’s arguments and rejected the bail request.
The court acknowledged that while the gravity of an offence was not sufficient grounds to deny bail, this must be examined in the context of other factors, such as the possibility of absconding or tampering with evidence.
Further to this, the court was not convinced that the accused were likely to stick to their bail conditions.