Учебный год 22-23 / legal terms

Legal terms

mitigating circumstances"

thief

charge

sentence

?confine

defence and prosecution lawyers

investigations

testimony

guilty

interrogation

key sentence:

Prosecutors had called for a three-year sentence but it was reduced because of "mitigating circumstances". Ahead of the verdict, Gabriele said he acted out of love for the Church and did not see himself as a thief. Gabriele is "very likely" to be pardoned by Pope Benedict. The former butler was accused of stealing and copying the Pope's documents and leaking them to an Italian journalist. During testimony, the three presiding judges heard how Gabriele used the photocopier in his shared office next to the Pope's library to copy thousands of documents, taking advantage of his unrivalled access to the pontiff. He would later pass some on to journalist Gianluigi Nuzzi.

Mr Nuzzi released a best-selling book this year, entitled His Holiness, largely based on the confidential papers and detailing corruption, scandals and infighting

Police also told the court how they found thousands of documents at Gabriele's home, including some original papers bearing the Pope's handwriting. Some had the instruction "destroy" written by the Pope in German on them. He told prosecutors he hoped to reveal alleged corruption at the Vatican, and believed that the Pope was being manipulated.

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