Vatican court initiates 'Vatileaks 2' trial

24 novembre 2015

2 min di lettura

(AGI) Vatican City, Nov 24 - The Vatican City court of justiceheld the first hearing of the criminal trial called 'Vatileaks2' regarding news published in books by journalists GianluigiNuzzi ("Via Crucis") and Emiliano Fittipaldi ("Avarizia"), twoof the defendants in the case. Their indictment has beenprotested against by all the journalists accredited with theVatican, the Foreign Media Association in Italy and also theOECD. In addition to the two journalists, the other defendantsare Fr Angel Lucio Vallejo Balda, Francesca Immacolata Chaouquiand Nicola Maio. All five are charged with crimes connected tothe dissemination of confidential news and documents. "We arenot martyrs but reporters," Gianluigi Nuzzi told the media. Hecontinued: "There are principles that need to be defended. Itis our duty to be here today. Compared to the Italian justicesystem, the Vatican's is too fast." Father Vallejo Balda, inclerical grey and a short hair-cut, added: "I feel fine, verywell protected." After 20 days in custody, the priest wassmiling although he looked thinner and obviously stressed byhis detention. Francesca Immacolata Chaouqui, former PR of theCOSEA, the Committee set up to investigate the Vatican'sfinancial system, appeared without a trace of makeup and withher jeans unbuttoned "to avoid trouble" since she is in earlypregnancy. The two did not appear to be particularly close andFr Balda talked to all the defendants except her. At thebeginning of the hearing the court rejected the request filedby Fittipaldi's defence to drop the charges against him. In avoluntary statement, Fittipaldi explained that this request wasbased on the charges being listed "without describing the factsto which they referred." He said: "The lack of specification isa completely unacceptable condition because the defendantcannot know what he is to defend himself against and theprosecution can at any time extend the indictment to any of thedocuments or news contained in my book." Lucia Musso,Fittipaldi's attorney, formalised the request specifying thather client's name is only mentioned on page 8 of the 10-pageindictment decree although no mention is made of incriminatingfacts, making it impossible for him to defend himself. RobertoZannotti, the Vatican's Assistant Promoter of Justice, repliedthat the indictment decree contained all the necessaryelements, including the charges and the possible aggravatingcircumstances. . .