However, the Public Prosecutor’s Office rejects the acquittal and they have already filed an appeal.
The prosecution claims that despite extensive evidence, including the testimony of as many as 20 witnesses, the court acquitted the 69-year-old priest from the Archdiocese of Munich and Freising.
According to the judge, there were significant doubts regarding the facts presented in the indictment. “Something had to happen,” the judge declared. What exactly it was, “cannot really be determined”. The public prosecutor’s office, on the other hand, demanded a sentence of three years and nine months in prison without parole, stating that guilt had been proven.
By the way, the priest from BiH, who has since retired, followed the trial from a wheelchair and did not testify until the very end of the trial. Only when the judge gave him his closing argument did he say that he was innocent and that he had never heard so many lies.
“They are destroying me. They are destroying the Church, not only in Germany, but everywhere.”
Let us remind you that the case dates back to 2018, when he was serving in the Archdiocese of Munich and Freising.
The public prosecutor accused the 69-year-old priest, who was then in the service of the Archdiocese of Munich and Freising, of raping the victim with his fingers and using force.
As reported by the media, the accused is from Bosnia and Herzegovina and spent almost nine months in custody. He was arrested in Croatia, from where he was extradited for criminal proceedings.
According to the indictment, the crime took place between August 2018 and March 2019 during a meeting in his former parish house in the district of Dachau. Namely, an 18-year-old young woman and her mother requested pastoral support and help from the competent priest due to mourning and other family problems. When the mother briefly left the room, the priest became aggressive. According to the girl’s testimony, he unzipped her jeans while she was sitting next to him, forcibly holding her and threatening to make her life “hell” if she told anyone.
(Vijesti.ba)
