No to the acquisition of church documents. This is the request presented yesterday in court in Sassari by lawyers Ivano Iai and Antonello Patané, representing, among others, in a trial involving nine defendants: Antonino Becciu, brother of the high prelate Angelo, and Don Corrado Melis, bishop of Ozieri, accused of embezzlement and money laundering.

They and four others are accused of having diverted 8 per thousand funds, from 2013 to 2016, to the Spes cooperative, chaired by Becciu.

At yesterday's hearing, prosecutor Gianni Caria's witnesses were heard, each representing the parish Caritas organizations. At the end of the hearing, the lawyers rejected some parts of the documentation submitted by the prosecutor.

"We opposed," the lawyers report, "the acquisition of all ecclesiastical documents which, not even having criminal relevance, constitute internal corporis acta of the Church: in fact, they are subject to the principle of separation between the two distinct legal systems, Italy and the Holy See, with respect to which interference in each other's affairs is prohibited."

«The case at issue - they continue - concerns, in particular, documents relating to religious and worship activities, the protection of which is provided for in Article 7 of the Constitution, in Article 7 of the law revising the Concordat, and in the legislation governing ecclesiastical entities (Law 222/1985)».

For these reasons, the defense requested that the property be removed from the file and returned to the Diocese of Ozieri, the sole owner of the relevant property rights. The panel, presided over by Judge Giancosimo Mura, with Monia Adami and Sara Pelicci as associate judges, reserved its decision until the next hearing on March 25.

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