"Vatican justice medieval: French lawyer"

Van yahoo.com:

"The Vatican does not have a modern, democratic judicial system that guarantees the defendant's rights. We are back to the Middle Ages. Even the Inquisition had some rules, but they don't have any. They just do as they wish," Brossollet told Reuters by telephone from Paris.

"The Vatican promotes the respect of human rights anywhere in the world, but it does not adhere to the same principles in its own courtyard," he said. "I think that poor butler is being detained arbitrarily."

After an official investigation, the Vatican concluded that Tornay had shot dead Swiss Guard commander Alois Estermann and his wife in a fit of rage over being passed over for promotion, before killing himself with the same weapon"."

Brossollet said the Vatican's top prosecutor, who is named by the pope and is known as the Promotor of Justice, had very limited experience of criminal cases, because they are so rare in the world's smallest state.

He said the Vatican's judiciary was not independent or transparent and paid scant attention to a defendant's rights, noting that statements from Gabriele's defense lawyer were being distributed by the Vatican's own press office.

I doubt that the butler's defense lawyer will ever have access to the full documents in the case," Brossollet said, adding that Tornay's mother still had not been able to obtain access to her son's judicial files after 14 years.


Brossollet said that throughout the Swiss Guard case, he and his co-defender Jacques Verges - whose clients have included a Nazi war criminal and a Khmer Rouge leader - were refused permission to argue their case before Vatican officials.

Only a handful of lawyers are allowed to work in the Vatican, and those who are not on that list must win special approval to do so.

"There is no independence, no separation of powers, and the judiciary will never go against the wishes of the Holy See. It's the archaic, unaccountable system of a sovereign prince," Brossollet said".

Naschrift:
"I rest my case", hoort U dan in Amerikaanse tv-series in rechtzaken. Onnodig op te merken dat mijn persoonlijke ervaring in administratiefrechtelijke aangelegenheden zowel in NL als ten Vaticane niets beter is dan die van de heer Brosollet. Altijd een grote mond over ethische normen en daarbij lasten opleggend die zelf niet worden gedragen en zelf in ethisch opzicht diep beneden aanvaardbaar peil handelend, kadavers achterlatend in de goot, alsof dat de meest vanzelfsprekende zaak ter wereld is. De Leviet trekt weer voorbij en houdt zijn handen schoon voor de eredienst.