Italian reservist acquitted of disobedience for aiding a cat with stillborn kitten

Italian Army's lieutenant Barbara Balanzoni shows a picture of herself with a cat as she arrives at the military court in Rome, Friday, Feb. 7, 2014, to face a trial where she is charged with gross insubordination for helping the cat Agata in a difficult birth, while on patrol as a medical officer at a NATO base in Kosovo in 2011. Balanzoni is being represented by Italy's National Agency for Animal Protection. The cat in the picture shown in the tablet is Rocco, father of the puppets. (AP Photo/Riccardo De Luca) (The Associated Press)

Italian Army's lieutenant Barbara Balanzoni poses with animal right activists as she leaves the military court in Rome, Friday, Feb. 7, 2014, where she is facing a trial where she is charged with gross insubordination for helping the cat Agata in a difficult birth, while on patrol as a medical officer at a NATO base in Kosovo in 2011. Balanzoni is being represented by Italy's National Agency for Animal Protection. (AP Photo/Riccardo De Luca) (The Associated Press)

ROME – An Italian military court has acquitted an Army reserve doctor of disobedience for helping a cat who had trouble delivering a litter of kittens on a military base in Kosovo in 2012.

Army medical reservist Lt. Barbara Balanzoni said after her acquittal Friday she was disciplined, and later charged, after Italian soldiers asked her to help a cat whose last kitten was stillborn. Balanzoni said the cat, which she named Agata, would have died without intervention.

She was accused of violating protocol that states animals must be tended by veterinarians. Balanzoni said none was on base.

Balanzoni's lawyer, Aldo Areddu, said she still faces charges of defamation and insults, which he says were the result of escalating tension following the cat incident.