Vatican City, 5 July 2016 – Today, Monday 4 July, at 3.40 p.m. in Vatican City State Tribunal, the concluding phase began in the ongoing trial for the dissemination of reserved information and documents. It was attended by the members of the Tribunal (Professors Giuseppe Dalla Torre, Piero Antonio Bonnet, Paolo Papanti-Pelletier and Venerando Marano), the Promoter of Justice (Professors Gianpiero Milano and Roberto Zannotti), and all the defendants, Ángel Lucio Vallejo Balda, Francesca Immacolata Chaouqui, Nicola Maio, Emiliano Fittipaldi and Gianluigi Nuzzi with their respective legal representatives Emanuela Bellardini, Laura Sgrò, Rita Claudia Baffioni, Lucia Teresa Musso and Roberto Palombi.

The session was entirely dedicated to the indictment by the Promoter of Justice. The conclusions presented by the two Promoters led to a call for a conviction for criminal association, limited to Vallejo Balda, Chaouqui and Maio, regarding the disclosure of information and documents regarding fundamental matters of State (arts. 248 and 116-bis of the Penal Code), while the journalists were accused of complicity in the dissemination of documents through the publication of the books Avarizia (Fittipaldi) and Via Crucis (Nuzzi).

The sentences requested were, for Msgr. Vallejo Balda: a custodial sentence of three years and one month; for Chaouqui, considered the instigator and responsible for the conduct: a custodial sentence of three years and nine months; and for Maio, considering his limited role in the events, a custodial sentence of one year and nine months. For the two journalists, the two positions were differentiated on the basis of findings during the inquiry and the trial: the acquittal of Emiliano Fittipaldi was requested due to lack of evidence, whereas for Gianluigi Nuzzi, a one-year prison sentence, with the possibility of suspension, was called for.

The session ended around 5.30 p.m.

The interventions by the counsels for the defence will begin tomorrow, Tuesday, at 9.30 a.m. and will continue on Wednesday afternoon at 3.30 p.m.