The Sassari court panel rejected most of the documents filed by prosecutor Gianni Caria in the trial against Tonino Becciu , brother of Cardinal Angelo, and Corrado Melis, bishop of Ozieri. Seven other individuals are also on trial, charged with various counts of embezzlement, money laundering, aiding and abetting, and providing false information to the prosecutor.
The main accusation is that of having diverted, from 2013 to 2016, the 8 per thousand funds from the Ozieri diocese to the Spes cooperative, chaired by Becciu himself . The expunged documents contained judicial police activities that, according to Ivano Iai and Antonello Patané, defense lawyers, "have nothing to do with this proceeding." "These documents," they explain, "were acquired through a rogatory letter to the Vatican City, whose legal system declared them absolutely null and void from the outset."
The reference is also to the order regarding the proceedings against Cardinal Becciu in the Vatican. The Vatican Court of Appeals recently ruled that the first-instance trial of the high prelate, accused of embezzlement, was nullified.
"We have produced the order stating that His Eminence's summons to appear before the court is null and void. Since this was a conflict in our proceedings and was originally flawed, it is clear that it must be excluded from our proceedings."
Among the testimonies at today's hearing was that of a former Spes handyman, who was fired from the cooperative at the time and claimed to have spoken to Pope Francis about his condition. "He told me he would pray for me," he claimed.
Giancosimo Mura will preside over the panel, with Monia Adami and Sara Pelicci on his sides.