The Brussels Court of Appeal recognized in December 2017 this Valaisan priest guilty of sexual abuse of a boy under 16 years of age whom he supervised at the boarding school of the Fraternité Saint-Pie X in Brussels, between 2010 and 2011 .
Ordained a priest in Ecône (VS) in 2004, the man had already been suspected of pedophilia in Valais in 2005.
Keystone
A Valais priest of the Fraternité Saint-Pie X sentenced in 2017 for sexual acts with children in Belgium will serve his three-year prison sentence in Switzerland. The clergyman was arrested only on June 12. State Councilor Fréderic Favre seized the Federal Office of Justice by mail to untie the threads of this file.
“Currently, the religious is detained in Valais where he should stay there to serve his sentence. But it will still depend on the detention regime, “explains the head of the Valais security department, interviewed Monday by Keystone-ATS. He returned to a case revealed by “Le Nouvelliste”.
It was the Brussels Court of Appeal that recognized in December 2017 this Valais priest guilty of sexual abuse of a boy under 16 years of age whom he supervised at the boarding school of the Fraternité Saint-Pie X in Brussels, between 2010 and 2011. The victim and his parents were a civil party at the trial. Belgian justice had sentenced him to five years suspended prison sentence for what exceeds three years.
The accused was, however, acquitted for the benefit of the doubt for similar acts committed against two other boys at the boarding school. They had not themselves brought a civil party before the Court of Appeal. At first instance, the Brussels Criminal Court had acquitted the accused. He felt that there was not enough evidence.
Transfer request
Two and a half years after the verdict, the priest lived freely in Valais. He had not appealed against his conviction but had asked Belgium to be able to serve his sentence in Switzerland, according to “Le Nouvelliste”. According to the Valaisan newspaper, which evokes a big administrative hiccup, the file seems to have been blocked since then in Brussels.
The Council of Europe Convention on the transfer of sentenced persons allows persons sentenced to a deprivation of liberty sanction outside their State of origin to return, under certain conditions, to serve their sanction there, may it can be read on the website of the Federal Office of Justice (OFJ).
But this procedure, which must be approved by both states, “often requires long exchanges of information. It can therefore last a certain time, often more than six months ”. The two states “agree on the terms of its execution (date and place of transfer)”, further details the website. But on the Swiss side, the authorities repeat: they were not aware.
Authorities unaware
The Valais Department of Security knew nothing about this file. He proceeded to the arrest after “Le Nouvelliste” revealed the presence of this condemned priest in the canton, he underlines.
Solicited shortly before the arrest of this religious, Belgium quickly sent in the days following a request for the execution of his judgment in Bern, notes Frédéric Favre. The OFJ confirms that it received the document in question “only” on June 16, referring it to the Belgian authorities for any other question. They had not yet reacted Monday to multiple requests from the Swiss press agency.
In order to shed light on this file, Frédéric Favre contacted the OFJ by mail to understand what happened in Belgium and to prevent such a case from happening in the future. Questioned by Keystone-ATS, the OFJ affirms not to have had any contacts with Belgium on the subject before this Valaisan authority does not request the small kingdom and not to know how the priest was finally found free in Valais.
Previous suspicions
The man had already been suspected of pedophilia in Valais in 2005. He had been acquitted by an ecclesiastical court in 2006. He had nevertheless been prohibited from having further contact with children, for a period of ten years. According to “Le Nouvelliste”, which quotes the secretary general of the Fraternité Saint-Pie X, the priest was excluded from this traditionalist Catholic congregation.
(NXP, ATS)
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