Quebec nurse had to clean up after husband's death in Montreal hospital
On a night she should have been mourning, a nurse from Quebec's Laurentians region says she was forced to clean up her husband after he died at a hospital in Montreal.
Defence lawyers in the Vatican's fraud and extortion trial on Friday accused Pope Francis of violating their clients' human rights by issuing four secret, executive decrees that gave prosecutors free reign to investigate in ways that deprived the suspects of basic legal guarantees.
The lawyers argued that the resulting trial into the Vatican's bungled 350 million euro investment in a London real estate deal is therefore illegitimate, and they again called for Tribunal President Giuesppe Pignatone to throw out the indictments. Pignatone is set to rule on their motions March 1.
The pope's prosecutors have accused the Holy See's longtime money manager, Italian brokers and lawyers involved in the London deal of fleecing the Vatican of tens of millions of euros, much of it donations from the faithful, and of then extorting 15 million euros from the Vatican to finally get full ownership of the property. The 10 suspects deny wrongdoing.
The trial, which formally opened in July, has been consumed with seven months of defence motions to throw out the indictments, most of them citing the prosecutors' refusal to turn over to the defence all the evidence they gathered during their two-year investigation. Prosecutors have repeatedly resisted orders from Pignatone to provide all the information.
On Friday, lawyers repeated those arguments. But they also called into question Francis' own role in the investigation, since he gave prosecutors carte blanche to pursue their probe, including by deviating from existing Vatican laws.
Francis' four papal decrees, known as “rescriptum,” imposed a “summary rite” over the whole investigation, essentially creating ad hoc norms that defence lawyers say violate the basic concept of the rule of law, the right to a fair trial and a host of other basic human rights. Those rights, they argued, are guaranteed under the church's own canon law, which is the basic source of law for the Vatican's criminal code.
The decrees gave prosecutors authorization to intercept suspects electronically and take “whatever” precautionary measures against them were necessary. During the investigation, prosecutors searched suspects' homes, seized their laptops, issued arrest warrants and in two cases detained suspects preemptively. Because of the “summary rite” imposed, there was no independent judge overseeing the prosecutors during their investigation.
Attorney Marco Franco, representing broker Gianluigi Torzi, argued that Torzi didn't even know about the existence of the decrees until after he was indicted and had spent 10 days in a Vatican barracks, where he was jailed after he voluntarily agreed to respond to prosecutors' questions. The decrees, meanwhile, have still not been published in any official Vatican publication as would be expected of any law, Franco noted.
Attorney Luigi Panella, representing the Vatican's former money manager Enrico Crasso, noted that neither the defence nor the tribunal knows what prompted Francis to issue the decrees, in yet another violation of their rights. “For the rescriptum to be valid, it is fundamental to be able to evaluate the request for them and their conformity to the law,” he said.
He said the pope's decrees place the entire trial “outside the laws of this state, but also outside the principles of a fair trial guaranteed by international human rights conventions and the Italian Constitution.”
The arguments about Francis' role underscore the anomalous circumstances of the trial and the perceived conflicts of interest. Francis and the Vatican claim to have been victims of a crime, but Francis himself is the absolute monarch of the Vatican, with supreme legislative, executive and judicial power. Although the victim of the alleged crime, Francis has issued executive decrees benefiting the prosecution, modified the city state's laws to allow cardinals to be prosecuted, and even appointed a new judge to hear the case.
Prosecutor Alessandro Diddi is expected to respond to the defence arguments on Feb. 28. His only intervention on Friday was to accuse Franco of “calumny” for having suggested that Torzi, while detained in the Vatican barracks, had little choice but to turn over his cellphone and laptops.
Pignatone said after he ruled on the defence motions he would set a calendar for future hearings and court activity “if there will be future activity.”
On a night she should have been mourning, a nurse from Quebec's Laurentians region says she was forced to clean up her husband after he died at a hospital in Montreal.
A North Bay, Ont., lawyer who abandoned 15 clients – many of them child protection cases – has lost his licence to practise law.
Members of the Bank of Canada's governing council were split on how long the central bank should wait before it starts cutting interest rates when they met earlier this month.
Brad Marchand scored twice, including the winner in the third period, and added an assist as the Boston Bruins downed the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-2 to take a 2-1 lead in their first-round playoff series Wednesday
Cuba's foreign affairs minister has apologized to a Montreal-area family after they were sent the wrong body following the death of a loved one.
Mounties in Nanaimo, B.C., say two late-night revellers are lucky their allegedly drunken antics weren't reported to police after security cameras captured the men trying to steal a heavy sign from a downtown business.
The federal government's proposed change to capital gains taxation is expected to increase taxes on investments and mainly affect wealthy Canadians and businesses. Here's what you need to know about the move.
Canada's Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland was among the 1,700 delegates attending the two-day First Nations Major Projects Coalition (FNMPC) conference that concluded Tuesday in Toronto.
The daughter of a New Brunswick man recently exonerated from murder, is remembering her father as somebody who, despite a wrongful conviction, never became bitter or angry.
A property tax bill is perplexing a small townhouse community in Fergus, Ont.
When identical twin sisters Kim and Michelle Krezonoski were invited to compete against some of the world’s most elite female runners at last week’s Boston Marathon, they were in disbelief.
The giant stone statues guarding the Lions Gate Bridge have been dressed in custom Vancouver Canucks jerseys as the NHL playoffs get underway.
A local Oilers fan is hoping to see his team cut through the postseason, so he can cut his hair.
A family from Laval, Que. is looking for answers... and their father's body. He died on vacation in Cuba and authorities sent someone else's body back to Canada.
A former educational assistant is calling attention to the rising violence in Alberta's classrooms.
The federal government says its plan to increase taxes on capital gains is aimed at wealthy Canadians to achieve “tax fairness.”
At 6'8" and 350 pounds, there is nothing typical about UBC offensive lineman Giovanni Manu, who was born in Tonga and went to high school in Pitt Meadows.
Kevin the cat has been reunited with his family after enduring a harrowing three-day ordeal while lost at Toronto Pearson International Airport earlier this week.