[JURIST] Cardinal Roberto Tucci, president of Vatican Radio [official website] and VR director general Father Pasquale Borgomeo were convicted Monday in an Italian court of polluting the enviroment with high-intensity electromagnetic waves and were handed 10-day suspended jail sentences. A 2001 epidemiological study [text] found a higher incidence of leukemia among the population living in areas near a Vatican Radio transmitter in northern Rome. A lawyer for the two radio executives has announced that he will appeal the decision. A third VR executive was acquitted. A previous case against the radio was dismissed in 2002 [BBC report] when it was ruled that charges against Vatican Radio could not be brought in Italian court because Vatican City [official website] is an independent sovereign state. Vatican Radio has issued a press release on the ruling (in Italian) and provides background material (in Italian) on the controversy from its perspective. BBC News has more.
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