Italian high court faults prosecutors in Vatican-linked case

By NICOLE WINFIELD
Associated Press

ROME (AP) — Italy’s supreme court has faulted Italian prosecutors for withholding evidence benefiting the key suspect in the Vatican’s fraud and embezzlement trial in a parallel case in Italian courts. The Court of Cassation ordered the Tribunal of Review to consider that evidence before deciding whether to uphold an international arrest warrant for Gianluigi Torzi. The London-based Italian broker is wanted in both Italy and the Vatican for alleged financial crimes. The high court annulled the warrant in October but the reasons for the decision were only released Saturday. The Cassation judges agreed with Torzi’s lawyers that Italian prosecutors had failed to turn over Torzi’s defense evidence to the judge who initially authorized the arrest warrant in March.