Abusive priests: they accused 17 Marists and the Jesuits admitted 64 cases

The Chilean prosecution has indicted 17 priests of the congregation of Marist Brothers to have committed 28 sexual abuse between 1970 and 2004, while the congregation of Jesuits of this country admitted in a document that 11 members of its clergy committed 64 abuse between 2005 and 2020.

The prosecutor specifies that the vctimas of Marists They were between 7 and 25 years old at the time of the events but as the abuse took place before the entry into force of the reform of the criminal procedure, the prosecution must refer cases to the old criminal justice system, according to the ANSA news agency.

In addition, the participation of two other priests diocesan. The background was reported today by the regional prosecutor, Hctor Barros, and the chief prosecutor of Sex crimes, Yazmn Salech, a vctimas and the complainants of these cases in a virtual meeting.

Prosecutors said they took 150 statements, including vctimas, witnesses and accused, and that they raided dependencies linked to the Marist Brothers.

“In these events, the indemnity and sexual freedom of these people, taking advantage of their vulnerability of children and adolescents and the domination that the defendants then exercised over them, from a religious, social or educational point of view, among others ”, declared the Prosecutor.

The hearing on the jurisdiction of the case will be held on May 28 at the 15 Tribunal Garanta de Santiago

For its part, the congregation of Jesuits Chile acknowledged in a report that 64 people were victims of sexual abuse -34 of them minors-, by 11 of their clrigos, which were investigated by the Catholic order itself between 2005 and 2020.

According to the 2021 report of the Center for the Prevention of Abuse and Reparation (CPR) of the Society of Jesus, released today, a total of 17 Jesuits have been investigated in canonical proceedings for allegations of abuse, whose congregation credited the responsibility of 11 by sexual abuse 34 minors and 30 adults.