On July 2016, the Vatican court acquitted the two journalists involved in the Vatileaks trial, citing freedom of expression as its reason. Judge Giuseppe Della Torre, head of the tribunal of the Vatican City State declared that "the court had no legitimate jurisdiction over Gianluigi Nuzzi and Emiliano Fittipald."[31] Msgr Lucio Balda, by contrast, was sentenced to 18 months in prison, and his sentence began on August 22 in a cell within the confines of the Vatican.[32] Requests for a papal pardon for Msgr Balda have, so far, been met with silence.[33]