VATICAN CITY
Crux
As the “Vatileaks 2.0” trial nears its end, the Vatican on Monday announced the penalties its chief prosecutors are seeking for the five defendants charged with stealing secret documents related to Vatican finances and making them public.
Those defendants include three former members or aides to a papal commission that studied financial reform of the Vatican in 2013-2014, and two Italian journalists who published books based on the leaked documents from that commission, known by its Italian acronym COSEA.
The the former Vatican officials were charged with the offense of “criminal association” under the laws of the Vatican City State in November 2015, while the journalists were charged with the illegal dissemination of confidential information, and their trial has been underway in on-and-off fashion ever since.
According to a statement on Monday from the Vatican spokesman, Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, the two prosecutors in the case, Giampiero Milano and Roberto Zannotti, believe that Italian laywoman and PR expert Francesca Chaouqui was the “inspirer and responsible party for the contested conduct,” and are recommending she face a prison sentence of three years and nine months.
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