INTERVIEW
Affected by the complaints of four men, at least three of whom accuse him of touching, the apostolic nuncio Luigi Ventura will be tried by the Paris criminal court. The ex-Vatican ambassador to France is the subject of a direct citation for "sexual assault", as we revealed to you on Thursday morning. Questioned by Europe 1, the defendant's lawyer, Me Bertrand Olivier, affirms that his client "will be present at the hearing" to "defend his honor".
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"He accepted the confrontation with the plaintiffs"
"We were waiting for this hearing and this trial in order to be able to defend his innocence", reacts Me Olivier, referring to facts "contested from the start, as part of the preliminary investigation which was launched by the Paris prosecutor's office". "Monsignor Ventura has, from the start, spontaneously participated in the investigation, and this notwithstanding the status which was his, of immunity", underlines the council. "He accepted the confrontation with the plaintiffs."
"There are important contractions in this file, inconsistencies, things that we will put forward to justify the innocence of Monsignor Ventura who was extremely marked, touched by these accusations which are, given their nature, infamous ", concludes the lawyer.