VATICAN CITY
Daily Mail (UK)
By ASSOCIATED PRESS
VATICAN CITY (AP) — A Vatican tribunal on Tuesday rejected a journalist’s request to have charges against him of publishing confidential documents dropped as a trial opened in the Holy See’s latest leaks scandal.
Journalists Emiliano Fittipaldi and Gianluigi Nuzzi are accused of having published books about Vatican waste, greed and mismanagement that were based in part on confidential Holy See documents. Alongside them in the courtroom Tuesday were three people, including a high-ranking Vatican monsignor, accused of leaking them the information.
The trial opened amid appeals by media watchdog groups, including the Committee to Protect Journalists, Reporters Without Borders and the OSCE, for the Vatican to drop the charges against the reporters, on the grounds that a free press is a fundamental human right.
The hearing was held in the intimate courtroom of the Vatican’s criminal tribunal, decorated with a photo of Pope Francis facing the defendants and a crucifix behind the bench. A small group of journalists was admitted inside as “pool” reporters.
After the charges were read out, Fittipaldi asked to approach the bench and read out a statement to the four judges, saying he decided 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.
He noted that he’s not accused of publishing anything false or defamatory, merely news — “an activity that is protected and guaranteed by the Italian constitution, by the European Convention on Human Rights and by the Universal Declaration on Human Rights.”
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