Priest, cardinal acquitted over Vatican radio waves

ROME, June 4 (Reuters) An Italian appeals court acquitted a Roman Catholic priest and a cardinal who had been convicted two years ago for polluting the atmosphere with Vatican radio's electromagnetic waves, a judicial source said today.

The case sprang from a medical report released in 2001 by a public health agency that showed unusually high numbers of people living near a forest of Vatican Radio antennas to the north of Rome had contracted or died from leukaemia.

Vatican Radio, which broadcasts news in some 40 languages, says its radio waves meet international transmission limits.

Cardinal Roberto Tucci, who used to head the Vatican Radio management committee, and the station's former director general, Father Pasquale Borgomeo, had been given 10-day suspended sentences in 2005.

They had been investigated for the crime of ''throwing dangerous objects'' under the Italian penal code. But the appeals court ruled that crime did not apply in this case.

''The decision today has recognised, as we always had maintained, that 'throwing dangerous objects' is not applicable in relation to electromagnetic waves,'' said defence attorney Franco Coppi.

Italy's leading consumer group, Codacons, challenged the acquittals and said it would take the case to the country's highest court.

REUTERS AM BST0028