Graves to be opened

The Office of the Promotor of Justice, part of the Vatican City State's Tribunal, in the person of the Promotor, Professor Gian Piero Milano and his Associate, Professor Alessandro Diddi, issued a decree dated 27 June 2019 for the opening of two tombs at the Teutonic Cemetery.  This decision is part of one of the files opened following a complaint by the family of Emanuela Orlandi who, as is known, in recent months has, among other things, reported the possible concealment of her body in the small cemetery located within the territory of the Vatican State.

The work will take place on July 11, in the presence of the lawyers for the parties (as well as the relatives of Emanuela Orlandi and relatives of the people buried in the graves concerned), with the technical assistance of Professor Giovanni Arcudi; the Commander of the Vatican Gendarmerie, Domenico Giani; and the staff of the Gendarmerie. The judicial provision foresees a complex organization of men and means (workers from the Fabbrica di San Pietro and personnel from the COS, the Security Operations Centre of the Vatican Gendarmerie, for the operations of demolition and restoration of the stone slabs and for the documentation of the operations involved).

This decision comes after a phase of investigations during which the Office of the Promoter - with the help of the Gendarmerie Corps - carried out investigations aimed at reconstructing the main judicial stages of this long and painful and complex case. It should be remembered that for legal reasons the Vatican investigating authority has no jurisdiction to investigate Emanuela Orlandi's disappearance in Italy; investigations which, moreover, have been conducted by Italian investigators - from the earliest stages - with scrupulousness and professional rigor. Therefore, the Vatican initiative concerns only the ascertainment of the possible burial of the body of Emanuela Orlandi in the territory of the Vatican State.

In any case, the complex expert appraisals set for July 11 are only the first phase of a series of pre-planned investigations which, after the opening of the tombs and the collection and cataloging of the remains, will lead to the expert reports needed to establish the dating of the findings and for DNA comparison.