Cardinal Angelo Becciuat the end of the trial over the management of the Secretariat of State's funds and the sale of the London building, was convicted five years and six months in prison.
The decision was announced by the President of the Vatican Tribunal, Giuseppe Pignatone, when the verdict was read out. Becciu, former deputy for general affairs and former prefect for the beatification and canonization processes – a position that was stripped from him by Pope Francis three years ago along with the cardinal's prerogatives The charges include embezzlement, abuse of office and denigration of witnesses. The rights activist Alessandro Diddi had called for a prison sentence of seven years and three months against him.
“We affirm the innocence of the cardinal Angelo Becciu and we will appeal“said Becciu’s defense attorney, lawyer Fabio Viglione, as he read out the verdict. “We respect the verdict, but we will definitely appeal,” he reiterated.
The Vatican Tribunal also ordered the “confiscation of the sum of the contested offenses in equivalent value.” a total of over 166 million euros”. The defendants were jointly and severally sentenced to “pay damages to the civil parties totaling over 200 million euros.”
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