Pope Francis today received in a private audience, in the Library of the Apostolic Palace, Beniamino Zuncheddu , the pastor of Burcei who spent 33 years in prison on charges of a triple homicide in 1991 and who was then acquitted last January at the end of a very long legal battle.
During the meeting, Zuncheddu gave the pontiff the book that recounts his judicial odyssey, “I am innocent”.
Vatican News reports this. «Arrested at 26 years old – writes the news site from the Holy See -, today Zuncheddu is 60. He wrote a book together with his lawyer entitled "I am innocent" - this morning he gave it to the Pope - in which he recounts the tragic experience he lived for so long. He was in three different prisons, sometimes sharing a small cell with eleven people, with great difficulty even just to wash and sleep. An inhuman experience, he says, but during which he was able to help those who were worse off than him. He drew the strength to resist by trusting in God and thinking of his family. Zuncheddu – concludes Vatican News – forgave those who had indicated him as the multiple murderer, later retracting his accusations».
(Online Union)