Vatican computer tech convicted in leaks scandal

[November 10, 2012]  VATICAN CITY (AP) -- A Vatican court has convicted a Holy See computer technician of helping the former papal butler in the theft of confidential papal documents and given him a two-month suspended sentence.

Claudio Sciarpelletti, an Italian who is a computer program analyst in the Vatican's Secretariat of State, had testified earlier Saturday that he had played no role in helping to spirit out confidential documents in a scandal involving alleged corruption in the Vatican bureaucracy.

Pope's former butler, Paolo Gabriele, was convicted last month in a separate trial for the theft of the documents and is serving a 18-month prison sentence in Vatican City.

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THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE.
AP's earlier story is below.

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Top Vatican security officials, including the head of Pope Benedict XVI's bodyguards, as well as his convicted former butler are on the witness list in the latest trial in the leak of confidential papal correspondence.

The witnesses had been called to testify earlier in the week in a Holy See courtroom, but the judge told them to come back Saturday to give more preparation time for the defense.

Vatican computer programmer Claudio Sciarpelletti is on trial on suspicion he aided ex-butler Paolo Gabriele, who is serving an 18-month prison sentence for the theft of the documents.

A pool of eight journalists was chosen to cover the proceedings, which were to begin Saturday morning.

The stolen documents formed the basis of an Italian journalist's book about alleged corruption at the Vatican.

[Associated Press]

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