VATICAN CITY — Protection attorneys within the Holy See’s “trial of the century” requested the Vatican prosecutor to recuse himself from the appeals trial Monday, arguing he was implicated in questionable conduct based on years of personal WhatsApp messages which have shaken the proceedings.
The chats present Prosecutor Alessandro Diddi has a private curiosity within the end result that ought to preclude him from heading the prosecution, the attorneys mentioned in separate motions on the opening day of the appeals trial.
The tribunal president, Archbishop Alejandro Arellano Cedillo, accepted the motions and ordered Diddi to reply inside three days, underscoring how the chats have shifted the bottom beneath the Vatican’s most bold and high-profile prosecution of alleged monetary misconduct.
The trial in regards to the Vatican’s 350 million euro ($412 million) funding in a London property resulted within the 2023 conviction of 9 folks on a bunch of finance-related costs. The star defendant was Cardinal Angelo Becciu, as soon as an in depth confidante of Pope Francis and a future papal contender.
The investigation took an important flip in August 2020 when the prime suspect within the London deal, Monsignor Alberto Perlasca, modified his story and turned on his onetime boss, Becciu. Perlasca escaped indictment and have become a major prosecution witness; Becciu was convicted of embezzlement and sentenced to five 1/2 years.
Just lately, 1000’s of pages of WhatsApp texts and audio messages have supplied the backstory to Perlasca’s change of coronary heart. They counsel questionable conduct by Vatican police, Diddi and Francis himself.
They doc a behind-the-scenes effort by two ladies, Francesca Chaouqui and Genevieve Ciferri, to focus on the cardinal by persuading Perlasca to activate him. Whereas the claims are unverified, the protection has seized on them as proof that the investigation was contaminated from the beginning and the defendants couldn’t get a good trial within the Vatican, an absolute monarchy the place Francis intervened on behalf of prosecutors.
The chats “reveal a disturbing exercise of proof tampering,” the attorneys wrote, citing numerous cases wherein it appeared Chaouqui was in shut contact with Diddi’s workplace and supplied Perlasca with recommendation purportedly from investigators.
The existence of the messages first jolted the trial in 2022 when Diddi instructed the court docket that Ciferri had forwarded him 126 chats she exchanged with Chaouqui. Diddi entered the messages into proof however redacted all however eight, prompting protection complaints that he was withholding essential proof.
The extra chats now circulating present Diddi had greater than 126 chats in 2022 and that Ciferri continued forwarding him content material for 4 days. Diddi had mentioned he blocked her after the primary night time. Diddi additionally mentioned he did not know both Ciferri or Chaouqui.
The protection attorneys additionally cited an audio file suggesting Vatican Police Commissioner Stefano De Santis gave Chaouqui recommendation for Perlasca about methods to implicate others when he was nonetheless a suspect. After Perlasca modified his story, he not solely escaped prosecution however was listed as an injured social gathering within the trial and have become a prosecutor in one other Vatican court docket.
“We don’t but know whether or not what emerges from the chats and audio recordings is true, however it’s sure that they appear to disclose — aside from attainable boasts, which have to be verified — a disturbing direct or oblique involvement of the investigators,” in conditioning Perlasca’s testimony, attorneys wrote in a movement demanding Diddi recuse himself.
Throughout Monday’s listening to in a frescoed courtroom within the Apostolic Palace, Diddi thanked the protection for offering the chance to reply to the allegations and mentioned he would take the three days to “categorical my ideas calmly, with the intention to dispel the doubts which have arisen in latest months concerning the conduct of the investigation.”
He then left the tribunal and different prosecutors took over.
If Diddi doesn’t recuse himself, the matter will go earlier than the Vatican excessive Court docket of Cassation headed by American Cardinal Kevin Farrell, a Francis protege and appointee.
In his position as camerlengo, Farrell reportedly produced a letter from Francis after his demise making clear the late pope didn’t need Becciu to take part within the conclave to elect his successor.
Chaouqui is now beneath investigation by Italian and Vatican prosecutors for alleged influence-peddling for her position in Perlasca’s modified testimony. The investigation considers Diddi a sufferer of the scheme, which is the premise for the protection argument that Diddi has a private stake within the associated appeals case and should not prosecute it.
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