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Five to go on trial over Vatican leaks
Two journalists, two members of the papal commission and an assistant to go on trial for leaking and publishing secret documents showing mismanagement of Holy See
Journalists Emilaino Fattipaldi and Gianluigi Nuzzi are among those to face trial on accusations of publishing secret documents about mismanagement at the Vatican
Five people are set to go on trial in the Vatican on accusations of leaking and publishing secret documents revealing mismanagement.
Two journalists Emiliano Fittipaldi and Gianluigi Nuzzi, who cited the documents in two books will face the tribunal, along with two members of a papal commission and an assistant, and if convicted, the accused could be jailed for up to eight years.
Media groups around the world have condemned the trial and urged the Vatican to drop the charges, with one of the journalists charged calling it "an attack on press freedom".
Fittipaldi and Nuzzi, wrote allegations of the misuse of charitable and other funds in their books Merchants in the Temple and Avarice. Other allegations included the lavish refurbishment of apartments for cardinals and others.
The three accused of leaking the documents are a Spanish priest Msgr Angelo Lucio Vallejo Balda and an Italian public relations expert Francesca Chaouqui who sat on a commission which advised the Pope on economic reform, along with the priest's secretary Nicola Maio, the BBC reports.
