The Vatican court said in a detailed sentence issued Dec. 1 that the
testimony given by the computer technician Claudio Sciarpelletti was
neither “credible” nor “truthful.”
The sentence was handed down Nov. 10, and was filed Dec. 1, as the
final installment of the “Vatileaks” saga.
It is not unusual for Italian
courts to deposit sentences weeks after the handing down of a verdict.
The court found the computer technician guilty of aiding and abetting
former butler to the Pope, Paolo Gabriele, in his theft of sensitive
documents.
Sciarpelletti was originally sentenced to four months in prison, but
his sentence was reduced two months due to extenuating circumstances.
His sentence came as part of the Vatican’s investigation into the theft
of private documents belonging to Pope Benedict, which were then leaked
to a journalist who published them in a best-selling book.
Gabriele was given an 18-month prison sentence in a separate trial,
which ended in October.
He is serving out his sentence in a Vatican
Gendarmerie prison cell.
Sciarpelletti, 48, was arrested for a short time in May after his
lawyer said an anonymous tip led to the search of his desk. An envelope
was found addressed to Gabriele containing copies of documents that had
been leaked to the Italian media.
Gianluca Benedetti, who represented Sciarpelletti in the case, argued
in court that his client was in an “emotional state” when he gave
confused and contradictory testimony to investigators, leading to the
charges leveled against him.
The sentence records that Sciarpelletti changed his story a number of
times about how secret documents came into his possession, and that his
testimony was neither “credible” nor “truthful.”
When asked about his changing story at his trial, Sciarpelletti said he
had the document so long that he forgot where it came from. His
changing story led to the prosecutor seeking obstruction charges.
The testimony of both Gabriele and Monsignor Carlo M. Polvani,
Sciarpelletti's superior, were deemed to be more credible and consistent
than his.
Judge Giuseppe Dalla Torre noted the computer technician’s long years
of service at the Vatican, but he said the court concluded Sciarpelletti
had helped Gabriele “elude the investigations of the authorities” at
the Vatican.
The judge ordered that the computer technician’s criminal conviction not appear on his permanent record.