New Delhi, Sept. 4 -- A jury in Malta on Wednesday acquitted the Maltese businessman accused by prosecutors of being the mastermind of the 2017 car bomb killing of crusading investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, sparking renewed calls for accountability in the Mediterranean island nation.

Caruana Galizia's killing shocked Europe, led to protests that toppled a prime minister and exposed a culture of impunity in the European Union's smallest state.

Yorgen Fenech, a prominent Maltese businessman, was indicted in 2021 on charges of complicity and criminal conspiracy. Prosecutors accused him of being the mastermind of the slaying and of having ordered and paid for it.

He pleaded not guilty and the jury on Wednesday, in an 8-1 vo...