VATICAN CITY
Vatican Insider
Vatican spokesman Fr. Lombardi dismissed the accusations made by the defendant during today’s hearing
Vatican Insider staff
Rome
During the second hearing in the Vatileaks case, the Pope’s former butler, Paolo Gabriele criticised the mental pressure and other mistreatments he was subjected to for the first 15-20 days of his detention. “I couldn’t even stretch my arms out,” and “the light was kept on 24/7, he stated.”
“There was no light switch and so I suffered loss of vision.” Answering questions addressed to him by his lawyer, Gabriele also complained about the “mental pressure” he was put under, “particularly on the fist night” of his detention: “I was even refused a pillow.”
The President of the Vatican Tribunal, Giuseppe Dalla Torre, asked the Promoter of Justice, Nicola Picardi, to open case file no. 52/2012, to check whether there were any other abuses during the defendant’s detention.
In relation to this, the Vatican’s spokesman, Fr. Federico Lombardi, pointed out that Paolo Gabriele’s conditions were “very humane”.
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