Specifically, they are accused of “urging and exerting pressure”, particularly on Msgr.
Advertisement
The Swedish government has proposed tough measures to stem the flow of asylum-seekers into the country, including granting temporary residence permits to refugees who earlier were eligible for permanent residency.
He added: “The only thing we did was publish the news, which was not denied, and documents that tell of scandals”.
Journalists Gianluigi Nuzzi (R) and Emiliano Fittipaldi (L) have had requests for charges to be dropped by the Vatican court refused.
Five people, including two Italian reporters, went on trial in the Vatican on Tuesday, to outrage from rights’ groups, on charges arising from publication of books in which the Holy See was portrayed as mired in mismanagement and corruption.
USA A nonprofit founded to combat obesity says the USD1.5 million it received from Coke has no influence on its work.
All three are accused of forming a criminal organisation and of procuring and leaking confidential documents.
Among those accused, the most prominent are Emiliano Fittipaldi, author of “Avarice”, and Gianluigi Nuzzi, author of “Merchants at the Temple”. The Foreign Press Association in Rome and the association of Vatican-accredited media, AIGAV, joined the protest Tuesday.
After the charges were read, Fittipaldi asked to approach the bench and read a statement to the four judges, saying he made a decision to show up out of respect for the court even though in Italy he would never have been accused of the charges he faces, much less put on trial.
Assistant Prosecutor Roberto Zannotti responded that freedom of the press wasn’t on trial but rather the “illicit behavior” of the journalists in obtaining the information.
The other three defendants in the trial are high-ranking Vatican clergyman Monsignor Lucio Vallejo Balda, his former Italian aide Nicola Maio and Italian laywoman and PR expert Francesca Chaouqui. The journalists denied the pressure accusation but acknowledged that they, like all journalists, obtained information and published it.
His lawyer, Lucia Musso, issued a formal motion to dismiss the charges against him on those grounds.
Giuseppe Dalla Torre, head of the tribunal for the Vatican City State, along with three Vatican judges deliberated about the introductory motions privately for 45 minutes. Nuzzi spoke for the first time with his Vatican court-appointed lawyer only on Monday morning.
The Vatican court has started the trial of five individuals, including two journalists, over leaked, classified documents. They were indicted Friday.
“In Italy, we’re slow with justice, but here maybe we’re a bit too quick”, Nuzzi quipped to reporters during a break in the hearing.
Advertisement
Each of the defendants could receive eight-year prison sentences if convicted. The two journalists, however, have argued that by filing the case against them, the state is violating their right to freedom of the press. Chaouqui was released ahead of the trial after agreeing to cooperate with investigators, but Vallejo Balda has been held in custody. Two officers who have been members of the Vatican’s Prefecture for Economic Affairs have been arrested (taken in to custody) with a public relations specialist in early November for leaking the knowledge.
