No charges in Swiss Catholic abuse investigation

The statute of limitations prevented some abuse cases being investigated Keystone / Christian Beutler

Prosecutors in the Swiss city of St Gallen have ended an investigation into five complaints of sexual abuse against the Catholic Church without filing any charges.

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The complaints were received after the publication of the abuse report in September 2023.

One of the five complaints was filed by the Diocese of Chur regarding an alleged assault from the 1970s and another from a private individual.

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A total of five priests were accused, and ten people were identified as potential victims. The investigations were “time-consuming and complex,” prosecutor spokesperson Leo-Philippe Menzel told Swiss public broadcaster SRF.

The length of time since the alleged assaults further complicated the investigations. The statute of limitations was cited as one of the key reasons that some other cases could not be investigated.

In two cases, the indictment chamber of the canton of St Gallen refused authorisation to open criminal proceedings, due to lack of jurisdiction or because an accused priest was permanently unfit to stand trial. That priest has since died.

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Statute of limitations

In four cases where the statute of limitations had not yet expired, the public prosecutor’s office conducted extensive investigations. However, the allegations could not be substantiated.

This was because the accused denied the allegations and the victims, due to the considerable time that had elapsed, were either unable to provide sufficiently precise statements or did not wish to revisit the matter. Therefore, no charges were filed in any of the cases.

The Diocese of St Gallen confirmed that one of the complaints originated from the diocesan bishop. The reported incident involved a member of a religious order and is alleged to have occurred in the early 1970s.

Canon law proceedings

In this case as well, the court of appeals refused authorization to prosecute as the Church member is now very elderly.

Both dioceses emphasised that they will continue to forward any information about possible criminal offenses to the authorities and will consistently implement measures under canon law.

The Diocese of St Gallen announced that the findings from the public prosecutor’s investigations will be incorporated into two ongoing canon law investigations. Unlike civil law, the Church can waive statutes of limitations.

Translated from German by AI/mga

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