Wednesday, April 6, 2016

Vatican court hearings continue

This evening, the Director of the Holy See Press Office, Father Federico Lombardi, SJ provided accredited journalists with the following information relating to the hearings currently in process in the Vatican relative to the publication of embargoed news and documents.

Today - Wednesday, April 6, at 10:30am - in the Vatican City Tribunal Hall, the newest session of the hearing currently in process relating to the release of embargoed news and documents began.

Besides the presiding judges (Professors Giuseppe Della Torre, Piero Antonio Bonnet, Paolo Papanti-Pellettier and Venerando Marano) and the Promoters of Justice (Professors Gian Piero Milano and Roberto Zannotti), all the accused: Lucio Ángel Vallejo Balda, Francesca Immacolata Chaouqui, Nicola Maio, Gianluigi Nuzzi and Emiliano Fittipaldi were present in the court room along with their respective lawyers: Emanuela Bellardini, Laura Sgrò, Rita Claudia Baffioni, Roberto Palombi e Lucia Teresa Musso.

At the beginning of the hearing, Miss Chaouqui's lawyer presented a request for the acceptance of previously introduced evidence, including a few recorded telephone calls.  The Promotor of Justice and Ms. Bellardini argued against the acceptance of this evidence, based on procedural rules regarding the filing of documents and the introduction of witnesses.  The Court was conducted in closed session between 10:55am and 11:15am and eventually rejected the proposed evidence.

The session which continued - with a break between 2:00pm and 3:30pm - was essentially dedicated to the questioning of the accused Ms. Francesca Immacolata Chaouqui by the presiding judge, the Promotor of Justice and finally by the defence lawyers representing the other accused persons.  Finally, the transcript of the interrogation (both the morning and the afternoon sessions) was read aloud and approved.  The session concluded shortly after 5:30pm.

The next session will take place on Monday, April 11 beginning at 10:30am.

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