The Vatican Court of Appeal, presided over by Msgr. Alejandro Arellano Cedillo, today declared inadmissible the appeal filed by the Promoter of Justice Alessandro Diddi against the first-instance ruling of December 16, 2023, in the trial concerning the management of the funds of the Secretariat of State and the sale of the Palace of London , in which Cardinal Angelo Becciu is among the defendants.

"The Court of Appeal, in the name of His Holiness Pope Leo XIV, having regard to Article 134 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, declares that the criminal proceedings should not be continued because the sentence of December 16, 2023, against the above-mentioned defendants is deemed definitive, limited to the charges recorded," reads the order read today by Archbishop Arellano at the third hearing of the second-instance trial. From now on, therefore, the grounds for appeal against the first-instance sentence —which sentenced nine of the ten defendants (Cardinal Becciu to five years and six months in prison for embezzlement and aggravated fraud)—presented by the prosecution will not be discussed, but only those presented by the defense .

Defendants Vincenzo Tirabassi and Cardinal Becciu were present at the hearing today in the new Vatican Tribunal Hall. Deputy Prosecutor Roberto Zannotti, in the courtroom after a motion for recusal was filed against Attorney General Diddi, stated that "the defense has raised the inadmissibility of the appeal against the first-instance ruling: we believe the objection is unfounded for a series of reasons, both in law and in fact." He then outlined the appeal according to the detailed grounds of the ruling, objecting to the fact that in previous appeals, in recent times, they had referred to different facts. "We insist on the rejection," he stated.

The prosecutor's arguments were thoroughly refuted by lawyers, including Gian Domenica Caiazza (Raffaele Mincione's defense): "We defense lawyers have worked hard to consider the ruling, and it's astonishing that there's a desire to undermine the law. Prosecutors and defense attorneys must contend with the ruling," he observed. Cataldo Intrieri (Tirabassi's defense attorney) also commented: "Even today, as we discuss the inadmissibility of the prosecutor's appeal, we are asking for the principles of due process, which are also part of this country's legal system, to be applied."

All the other lawyers joined in. With the exception of Cecilia Marogna's lawyer, Giuseppe Di Sera, who stated: "We defer to the Court and trust that everything will go as it should with respect to my client."

ASIF—the Vatican's Anti-Money Laundering and Supervisory Authority—withdrew its appeal. After just under two hours of deliberation, the Court read the order declaring the Attorney General's appeal inadmissible. "The grounds for an appeal cannot be formulated in a generic or abstract manner, but must have at least a minimal degree of specificity that allows for an understanding of the critical relationship between the reasons for the decision and the rationale behind the related objections," explained President Arellano.

For Cardinal Becciu, "this is a good sign, but there is still a long way to go." His lawyers, Fabio Viglione and Maria Concetta Marzo, added: "It was necessary to point out the inadmissibility of the Promoter's appeal, which the Court today upheld by granting our objection. However, despite this decision that excludes the Promoter's appeal, we are convinced of the solidity and validity of our defense arguments, which demonstrate Cardinal Becciu's complete innocence."

The next hearing is scheduled for October 6.

(uniononline)

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