«I want to express my bitterness because the Court did not accept the requests of my lawyers, the possibility of having the so-called 'omitted' chats in hand, because, as lawyer Viglione underlined , the defense remains mortified, it cannot fully exercise the right of defense if he does not have all the material ".
Cardinal Angelo Becciu declared this to journalists at the end of today's hearing, the 60th, penultimate of the preliminary phase of the process on the management of the funds of the Secretariat of State , in which the Tribunal presided over by Giuseppe Pignatone rejected after an hour of in the council chamber the exception of the defense of Cardinal Becciu who asked for the complete acquisition of the 126 chat messages sent at the end of November by Genoveffa Ciferri, a friend of Msgr. Alberto Perlasca, to the Vatican promoter of justice Alessandro Diddi, also concerning the relationship with the other witness Francesca Immacolata Chaouqui.
Of these, only six have been made available to the parties while the other 120 are covered by "omissis".
His lawyer Fabio Viglione had asked for the WhatsApp messages to be deposited because "they need a different reading and clarification", given "the disturbing picture in itself" and the "maneuvers in the rear" in relation to the drafting of the memorial of Msgr. Perlasca of August 31, 2020, which represented "a turning point in the investigation", "a point of discontinuity with respect to his previous interrogation of April 26, 2020". «Msgr. Perlasca received a prompt for his memorial - added Becciu's defender -. It is necessary to understand what origin those chats have, what relationship there was between Ciferri and Chaouqui ».
THE ATTACK – «We were asked to clarify this affair, the affair of these three gentlemen, Msgr. Perlasca, Mrs. Chaouqui and Mrs. Ciferri - Becciu continued today - who themselves said they had plotted against me . It's a plot they've made." A plot «that led to the exploitation of the Pope - added Becciu -. They used the Pope to carry out a vengeful plan against me. I don't understand why this aspect isn't clarified."
"The three are calm, free - Becciu declared again - and I have been in this suffering for three years , under the nightmare of these accusations which are proving to be false". “I express my bitterness because there is no clarity on this matter, because it is an offense to the Holy Father himself - he reiterated -. The Holy Father cannot be used to carry out such a malicious plan as revenge, which was done for me». "So I continue to maintain my trust in the Tribunal and I hope that the truth emerges to the end - he concluded -. However , not investigating this affair leaves me rather perplexed ».
THE MOTIVATIONS – The Court's decision to reject the request of the lawyers Fabio Viglione and Maria Concetta Marzo, defenders of card. Becciu, was motivated by the "needs of secrecy ", which she judged "unquestionable", advanced by the Office of the Promoter of Justice because the material is the subject of another criminal proceeding still in the investigation phase . The request to remove the numerous omissis in the interrogation report of Msgr. Pearl.
The chat messages between Francesca Chaouqui and Becciu himself are instead acquired in the trial records.
The next hearing set by the Court, that of 13 June, will close the preliminary investigation phase with the possible hearing of the last witnesses, if present. President Pignatone has already scheduled six hearings (18, 19, 20, 24, 25 and 26 July) for the indictment of the promoter of justice, and another five (27, 28 and 29 September, 5 and 6 October) for the requests of the civil parties. From mid-October, therefore, the ten defenses will intervene, with an average of three weekly hearings. Finally we will go to the sentence.
(Unioneonline/D)
