Vatican City, 6 July 2016 – Yesterday, Tuesday 5 July, at 9.30 a.m. in Vatican City State Tribunal, the concluding phase continued in the ongoing trial for the dissemination of confidential 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 Giampiero Milano and Roberto Zannotti), and the defendants Ángel Lucio Vallejo Balda, Francesca Immacolata Chaouqui and Nicola Maio. The defendants Emiliano Fittipaldi and Gianluigi Nuzzi were absent. All five legal representatives were present: Emanuela Bellardini, Laura Sgrò, Rita Claudia Baffioni, Lucia Teresa Musso and Roberto Palombi.

The session was entirely dedicated to the closing statement by Emanuela Bellardini, counsel for the defence of Vallejo Balda, which concluded with the request, in the first instance, for full acquittal from all charges, or alternatively, acquittal from the charge of criminal association inasmuch as there is no case to answer, and acquittal from the charge of complicity in the dissemination of reserved documents on the grounds of insufficient evidence; or as a further alternative, acquittal from the charge of criminal association on the grounds that there is no case to answer, and the minimum sentence, in view of mitigating factors, for the charge of complicity in the dissemination of confidential documents. This was followed by the closing statement by Laura Sgrò, counsel for the defence of Francesca Immacolata Chaouqui, which concluded with the request for full acquittal from all charges.

The hearing terminated at around 2.15 p.m. The interventions by the counsels for the other defendants will continue tomorrow afternoon, Wednesday, at 3.30 p.m.