- Title: Trial begins for French priest Bernard Preynat accused of child abuse
- Date: 16th January 2020
- Summary: EXTERIOR OF COURTHOUSE (SOUNDBITE) (French) ALLEGED VICTIM OF PREYNAT, PIERRE-EMMANUEL GERMAIN-THILL, SAYING: "A lot of serenity and impatience too because I really want to move on like all the other victims who are here today. I hope that the whole truth will come out today, that we will be able to express ourselves freely and that the trial will take place today." JOURNA
- Embargoed: 30th January 2020 13:41
- Keywords: By the Grace of God Cardinal Philippe Barbarin Catholic Church Father Bernard Preynat Francois Ozon boy scouts child abuse priest sexual abuse
- Location: LYON, FRANCE / INTERNET
- City: LYON, FRANCE / INTERNET
- Country: France
- Topics: Crime/Law/Justice,Judicial Process/Court Cases/Court Decisions
- Reuters ID: LVA001BWFB41Z
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text:PLEASE NOTE: THIS STORY REPLACES 1045-FRANCE-RELIGION/TRIAL WHICH WAS WITHDRAWN DUE TO COPYRIGHT REASONS
The trial of former Catholic priest Bernard Preynat began on Tuesday (January 14) in Lyon where he was to face charges for abusing dozens of boy scouts during the 1970s and early 1990s in France's biggest church child abuse scandal to date.
His case has shaken the French Catholic Church to the core after a French court convicted the Roman Catholic archbishop of Lyon, Philippe Barbarin, last March, for inaction on the allegations of sexual abuse of boy scouts in his diocese of Lyon, handing him a six-month suspended jail sentence.
Barbarin has denied concealing allegations that Preynat abused dozens of boys more than a decade before he arrived in the Lyon diocese in 2002. Preynat has admitted sexual abuse, according to his lawyer.
The three founded an association "La Parole Liberee" (Freed Speech), which counts 85 alleged victims of Preynat, like Francois Devaux who heads the association.
Barbarin is the highest-profile cleric to be caught up in the child sex abuse scandal inside the Catholic Church in France.
Barbarin's trial put Europe's senior clergy in the spotlight at a time when Pope Francis is under fire for the church's response a sexual abuse crisis that has engulfed the church, deeply damaging its standing around the globe.
Preynat's trial was postponed from Monday (January 13) due to French lawyers on strike in protest of the government's planned pension reform.
(Production: Cecile Mantovani, Pascale Antonie) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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