A staff member of Victoria's county court in Australia has been fired for allegedly accessing sensitive information about the trial of Cardinal George Pell, who has been charged with sexual assault.
Pell, the most senior Catholic in Australia, was ordered to stand trial last month after undergoing a committal hearing that went on for almost a month.
An unnamed employee was reportedly dismissed by the court this week over accusations of accessing information on the trial without permission.
"The court takes the management and security of information seriously and has systems in place to detect where information is accessed without authority," a court spokeswoman has said, according to The Guardian.
"When improper access to information is found to occur, the court takes decisive action. This is exactly what has occurred in this case," she continued.
It is not clear what kind of information was accessed by the court employee, but there had been concerns about the integrity of the case because of the breach, The Guardian reported, citing the Herald Sun.
Pell, who has denied all the charges, had reportedly appeared in court on Wednesday morning to present legal arguments on the case.
Nearly half the charges against the cardinal were dismissed two weeks ago, but magistrate Belinda Wallington had ruled that the prosecution had a strong enough case to pursue the remaining charges.
Meanwhile, Australian prosecutors have filed an application for an injunction to ban reporters from covering the trial.
According to The Guardian, the application proposed a prohibition on any publication regarding the trial until after the proceedings have concluded.
The prosecutors have asked the Victoria county court to suppress "any report of the whole or any part of these proceedings and any information derived from this proceeding and any court documents associated with this proceeding," according to Catholic Herald.
They explained that the application was aimed at preventing a "real and substantial risk of prejudice to the proper administration of justice" to mitigate concerns that the cardinal would not get a fair trial because of wide public attention on the case.
The proposed ban was reportedly aimed at media outlets in all Australian states and territories, including those that publish content online.
Prosecutors further noted that the ban would prohibit any reports about the number of complainants as well as the nature of the charges against the cardinal.
Pell, who is currently on leave of absence from his position as Vatican finance chief, is the most senior Vatican official to undergo trial by jury for sexual offenses.
