VATICAN TRIBUNAL SENTENCE AGAINST CLAUDIO SCIARPELLETTI

Vatican City,  (VIS) - This morning the Tribunal of Vatican City State published its ruling in the trial against Claudio Sciarpelletti, the computer technician employed by the Secretariat of State implicated in the "Vatileaks" case.

The Tribunal, pursuant to Article 225 of the Penal Code, ruled that the defendant was "guilty of the offence of assisting in the elusion of the investigations by the Authorities" and "therefore sentences him to prison for four months".

"Pursuant to Article 26 of the Law of 21 June 1969, in view of the accused's service record and lack of previous convictions, the Tribunal reduces the sentence to imprisonment for two (2) months". Pursuant to Article 90 of the same law, the Tribunal "orders the suspension of the sentence for a period of five years, according to the conditions of law". In the light of Article 427 of the Penal Code, the Tribunal orders the suspension of "mention of the sentence on the record of previous offences until such time as the accused commits further offence".

"Pursuant to Articles 39 of the Penal Code and 429 of the Code of Penal Procedure", the Tribunal "orders Claudio Sciarpelletti to defray the costs of the trial and reimburses him the sum of one thousand euros he had deposited as bail".

"Signed: Giuseppe Dalla Torre, president; Paolo Papanti-Pelletier; Venerando Marano, and Raffaele Ottaviano, substitute registrar".