The Maltese businessman was charged with ordering and paying for the murder. He denied the charges and was acquitted by a jury in court on Wednesday.
The 53-year-old investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, who had exposed high-level corruption in the country, was killed by a car bomb. The murder sparked widespread protests that later led to the resignation of Prime Minister Joseph Muscat.
An investigation also held the then government responsible for, among other things, negligence in not taking the threats against the journalist seriously.
Two brothers were sentenced to 40 years in prison each in 2022 for planting the car bomb. Three more men have been convicted of complicity in the act.
