This lawyer is taking on the Vatican

class=”sc-3778e872-0 cKDKQr”>

Viola Amherd (60) is planning a big performance in the Vatican next Saturday. She owes him to Charles III. At the same time he is being crowned in London, which is why Federal President Alain Berset (51) cannot travel to Rome to swear in the Swiss Guard – and the Defense Minister must intervene.

In her capacity as Vice President of the Confederacy, Amherd will visit the male bastion of the Papal States on May 6, where on this day the new guards will swear eternal allegiance to Pope Francis – and readiness, if necessary, to life for the Argentinian church prince.

He in turn calls the Italian lawyer Laura Sgrò (48) to the scene. She believes that Swiss politics should put pressure on the Vatican. The lawyer is concerned about a murder within the Swiss Guard, which took place 25 years ago, but which she urgently wants to reopen: “Three Swiss have died in unclear ways.” For the Vatican, on the other hand, the case has been clear for a quarter of a century: on May 4, 1998, Cédric Tornay (23), Vice Corporal of the Swiss Guard, murdered his commander Alois Estermann († 43) and his wife Gladys († 48), who had come from Venezuela. came. Tornay then took his own life.

To this day, the Swiss Guards are also convinced: Cédric Tornay took revenge on his superior and his wife for refusing him the “Benemerenti” medal of merit: the Swiss had smoked weed, arrived late for work and had spoken the wrong tone. That did not fit the image of a dutiful watchman. Then all his fuses blew. Despite this official variant, countless rumors and conspiracy theories have been circulating since then: Was Commander Estermann a GDR agent? Did he have an affair with young Cédric? Is the real killer still on the loose?

Files raise questions

Lawyer Sgrò represents Tornay’s mother and is convinced that the investigations at the time were far too superficial. The guilt of the Swiss Guard could not be proven, he had to be rehabilitated. Finally, under difficult circumstances, she was able to access the files.

The files raise questions, as Sgrò writes in her book “Sangue in Vaticano” (Blood in the Vatican). For example: why was an Italian ambulance first called, but it returned before the walls of the Vatican? Or forensics: “The crime scene was contaminated. More than 20 people came in. There was no professional forensic team, no one wore a mask.” A photographer from the Vatican newspaper “Osservatore Romano” took the evidence images – as the lawyer complained, they did not meet criminal standards.

Laura Sgrò also wonders why the Vatican did not entrust the investigation to Italian investigators: “When the assassination attempt on the Pope was thwarted in 1981, the Vatican asked Italy for official help. Why not with three dead?” Even if she can’t prove Tornay’s innocence, she assumes a cover: “The case must be reopened.”

More mysterious cases are being opened

It is not the only spectacular case on which Sgrò disagrees with the Vatican. Another concerns the sudden disappearance 40 years ago of the girl Emanuela Orlandi, of whom Netflix made the true crime series Vatican Girl. And Laura Sgrò is interested in spectacular cases – but also in the antiquated Vatican legal system, which continues to challenge the feisty Sicilian.

Emanuela was the daughter of a Vatican employee and lived within the papal walls. On June 22, 1983, the 15-year-old did not return home after music lessons. Since then all signs of life have been missing from her. Her body was never found. There were all the more conspiracy theories – from mafia involvement to sex parties in the Vatican.

Source: Blick