Prominent Priest Finally Jailed in Argentina for Sexually Abusing Minor

By Tihomir Gligorevic
Inserbia
September 24, 2013

http://inserbia.info/news/2013/09/prominent-priest-finally-jailed-in-argentina-for-sexually-abusing-minor/


BUENOS AIRES, Argentina – Father Julio César Grassi, a Roman Catholic priest in the Buenos Aires suburb of Morón, has been ordered to serve his prison sentence after a court ruling denied his pleas to remain under house arrest.

In 2009, the priest was convicted by a three-judge panel in the criminal court of Morón of sexually abusing a minor, a teenage boy. In that case, the prosecutor was seeking a 30-year sentence for the priest and eventually, the court sentenced him to fifteen years after finding him guilty of two of the seventeen charges he was facing, the most grave of those being sexual abuse and “corruption” of a minor.

Grassi repeatedly appealed the ruling and was rejected three times, including last week at his final appeal at the Supreme Court of Buenos Aires Province in the city of La Plata. That ruling paved the way for the priest to be taken back to the court that originally tried him in Morón for final sentencing. There, he tried to appeal once again, this time regarding the way the sentence would be served and not the length of the sentence.

The court in Morón then rejected that appeal, ordering Grassi to the original fifteen year prison sentence he received in 2009, minus one month that he served that year.

The case piqued the interest of people in Argentina and elsewhere in Latin America, a country and a region long associated with powerful catholic clergies and figures. The judicial system was criticized by many in Argentina for seemingly granting the priest many privileges that non-clergy do not enjoy, like receiving house arrest only one month after beginning his fifteen year sentence under certain conditions.

The priest then broke the rules of his conditional freedom, leaving his home and showing up at the building that housed his foundation and referencing the name of one of his accusers on a TV newsmagazine program. Once again, Argentinians were angered as he still remained free and evaded his imminent return to prison for violating the terms of his release. Suspiciously, the Morón tribunal annulled the warrant for his arrest because of “procedural reasons.”

Grassi was originally investigated in 2002 following accusations made against him by two teenage boys. Another teenage boy made similar accusations in 2006 and all three have been kept in a witness protection program while the police investigated. The court revealed that there was substantial evidence against the priest, and psychological experts involved in the trial have said that the boys are telling the truth and maintainced complete consistency in their recounting of the abuse.

The priest was accused of committing the heinous crimes at his Fundación Felices los Niños, or the Happy Children Foundation, in the nearby Buenos Aires suburb of Hurlingham that he founded in 1993. The Foundation’s goal was to “rescue street children and turn them into honest citizens and good Christians.”

Grassi has denied the charges since they were first brought up against him, saying there was a “conspiracy” against him, that former volunteers and employees of his foundation were seeking revenge for losing their positions there, and that children formerly housed at the foundation were trying to extort money from him.

“In my life, all I have done was to help the children in need,” he said at his final hearing, delivering an emotional plea to stay under house arrest that fell on deaf ears. However, following the denial of his appeal, he remained calm, saying “I am in peace, I believe in God,” as he was taken to the Ituzaingó jail in the far western suburbs of Buenos Aires to serve his sentence.

Juan Pablo Gallego, the lead prosecutor who has worked on the case for years, said he was happy with the ruling, saying that “a convicted paedophile who is out of control” needs to be separated from society.

Earlier this year in April, Pope Francis, from Argentina himself, called on the church to investigate cases and take decisive action against the “filth” of sex abuse by Catholic officials, and ensure that “necessary measures” are taken against those found guilty.