By Junno Arocho Esteves
VATICAN CITY (CNS) — A Vatican court, citing freedom of the
press, acquitted two journalists who published confidential documents while
their source, a Spanish monsignor, was sentenced to 18 months behind bars.
Judge Giuseppe Della Torre, head of the tribunal of the Vatican City State, delivered his
ruling July 7, declaring that the court had no legitimate jurisdiction over
Gianluigi Nuzzi and Emiliano Fittipaldi.
The court found
Msgr. Lucio Vallejo Balda, secretary of the Prefecture for the Economic Affairs
of the Holy See, and Francesca Chaouqui, a member of the former Pontifical
Commission for Reference on the Economic-Administrative Structure of the Holy
See, guilty of having roles in the leaking of confidential documents about
Vatican finances.
Finding the Spanish
monsignor guilty of actually stealing and passing on secret documents, the
court sentenced him to serve jail time. The judges determined that Chaouqui’s
role was one of encouraging the leak and they gave her a 10-month suspended
sentence.
Nicola Maio,
Msgr. Vallejo Balda’s former assistant, was found not guilty and acquitted of
all charges.
Shortly after the court’s ruling, Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, Vatican spokesman, released a
statement saying that despite criticisms of the proceedings, the trial was
“necessary” to ensure that Vatican law regarding the leaking of private
documents is respected.
“We cannot
declare objectives or establish norms and not be coherent in putting them into
practice and pursuing those who break the law,” he wrote.
The ruling brings an end to the “VatiLeaks” trial, which began in late November, after long periods
of recess and months of witness and expert testimonies on the events leading to
the leaking of private documents dealing with the Vatican’s financial reform.
Nuzzi’s
book, “Merchants in the Temple,” and Fittipaldi’s book,
“Avarice,” focused on the irregularities uncovered by the commission Pope Francis established to
study the financial activity of Vatican offices.
Shortly after the
books were released, Pope Francis expressed his dismay, saying he was
“disturbed” by the leak.
“Stealing
documents is a crime,” the pope said. “It is a deplorable act that
does not help.”
Msgr. Vallejo
Balda, Chaouqui and Maio were accused of forming an “organized criminal
association” with the aim of “committing several illegal acts”
of leaking confidential documents.
Under the Vatican
criminal code, it is a crime to take, distribute and publish confidential
documents.
Fittipaldi and
Nuzzi faced charges of “soliciting and exercising pressure, especially on
(Msgr.) Vallejo Balda, in order to obtain confidential documents and
news,” which they then used for their books.
Before the judges began their deliberations, the defendants
were given an opportunity to deliver a final statement.
Of the five defendants, Chaouqui alone chose to address the
court, delivering an emotional plea and apologizing for the outbursts she made
throughout the trial.
“I am a person who, at times, is unable to keep quiet.
I am proud, angry and have a character that has sometimes led me to make
mistakes,” she told the court July 7.
She also argued the prosecution did little to prove her
alleged threats led the Spanish monsignor to leak the documents. Chaouqui noted
that a profanity-laced message to Msgr. Vallejo Balda read in court July 5 was
sent several months after he had already given Nuzzi the documents.
“I was given the harshest penalty as if I had done
everything alone from the moment I met (Msgr.) Balda,” she said.
Breaking down in tears, Chaouqui said the accusations
against her were false and that her “personal and professional image as a
woman and a mother” was destroyed.
“For me these months have been a Calvary. No punishment
is greater than what I have been through up until now,” she said.
Lawyers for Maio, Nuzzi and Fittipaldi had given their
closing arguments July 6, calling for the full acquittal of their clients due
to lack of evidence.
Roberto Palombi, Nuzzi’s lawyer, also said the Vatican court
had no jurisdiction because Nuzzi is not a citizen of Vatican City State and
that the alleged crime of receiving and publishing private documents took place
in Italy.
Palombi also argued that the charge unjustly criminalized
journalists for “asking questions.”
“We are defending an Italian citizen who exercised his
right to freedom of the press; we are talking about here a new kind of crime —
a criminal association of the press,” he said.
The prosecution countered the assertion, saying that the
charges reflect only the alleged illegal manner in which the documents were
acquired.
The charges are not “against freedom of the press”
but rather relate to the questionable methods used to obtain the information,
Vatican co-prosecutor Roberto Zanotti argued.
– – –
Follow Arocho on Twitter: @arochoju.
– – –
Copyright © 2016 Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. www.catholicnews.com. All rights reserved. Republishing or redistributing of CNS content, including by framing or similar means without prior permission, is prohibited. You may link to stories on our public site. This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. To request permission for republishing or redistributing of CNS content, please contact permissions at cns@catholicnews.com.
