Mistrial declared in Vatican’s ‘trial of the century’

Vatican appeals court declares mistrial in Vatican’s major “trial of the century”; It was a stunning blow to both Pope Francis’ legacy and Vatican prosecutors, who are prosecuting a cardinal and several others over allegations of financial crimes.

In the 16-page decision, the appeals court ruled that both Francis and Vatican prosecutors made procedural errors that invalidated the original indictment and required a new trial.

The court set the start date of the new trial as June 22.

Defense lawyers said that although such a decision was not historic, it was extremely important because it meant that the Vatican court would declare a decision of the pope invalid.

The verdict was a victory for the defense and a major defeat for Vatican prosecutors who were struggling to salvage their case.

The case against Cardinal Angelo Becciu and others and their convictions in 2023 were cited by Francis as evidence of his desire to take action against financial abuses in the Vatican.

The main focus of the case was the Vatican’s 350 million euro ($A568 million) investment in a London property.

Prosecutors alleged that brokers and Vatican monsignors received tens of millions of euros in fees and kickbacks from the Vatican to purchase the property and then blackmailed the Vatican for 15 million euros to hand over control of the property.

The original investigation revealed two major tangents regarding Becciu, once a prominent Vatican cardinal and future papal candidate.

He was convicted of embezzlement and sentenced to five and a half years in prison.

The court found eight other defendants guilty of embezzlement, abuse of power, fraud and other charges.

All maintained their innocence and appealed.

During the first hearing, Becciu’s lawyers in particular complained that prosecutors did not hand over all the evidence to the defense and violated their right to a fair trial.

Prosecutors redacted some documents, withheld the cellphone records of a key prosecution witness and redacted texts between players, arguing that such omissions were necessary to protect the confidentiality of other investigations.

Defense lawyers also argued that four secret decrees signed by Francis giving prosecutors wide-ranging investigative powers violated the defendants’ right to a fair trial.

Since the decrees were never published, they only learned of the decisions just before the trial began.

The appeals court accepted both defense arguments.

In the decision, the appeals court ruled that one of Francis’ decisions amounted to law and that Francis’ failure to publish it invalidated it.

The court also ruled that the failure of Vatican prosecutors to turn over all the evidence to the defense invalidated the original indictment.

Defense attorneys were pleased with the verdict.

Massimo Bassi and Cataldo Intrieri, lawyers representing former Vatican official Fabrizio Tirabassi, said in a statement: “The historic decision of the Court of Appeals, which ruled for the first time in the history of the Vatican that the papal bull is null and void due to its non-publication, results, in our opinion, in the complete invalidity of the entire investigation and trial.” he said.

“We believe that we will conclude the case quickly with a largely acquittal decision.”

The court, chaired by Archbishop Alejandro Arellano Cedillo, ordered prosecutors to hand over all documents “in their original form” by April 30.

The defense was given until June 15 to prepare its defense requests before the new trial will start on June 22.