5-year sentence for French priest who abused boy scouts

By Nicolas Vaux-Montagny
Associated Press
March 16, 2020

https://apnews.com/fb05cbd0c8a45490eeaf483371124371

Former French priest Bernard Preynat, center, arrives at the Lyon court house, central France, Monday Jan.13, 2020. Bernard Preynat, is accused of sexually abusing some 75 Boy Scouts went on trial Monday _ but the proceedings were delayed until Tuesday because of a strike by lawyers. Preynat admitted in the 1990s to abusing boys, but was only removed from the priesthood last year. Photo by Laurent Cipriani

A French priest who acknowledged sexually abusing at least 75 boys over decades was sentenced Monday to five years in prison, in France’s worst case of clergy abuse to reach trial.

The court in Lyon issued the verdict against 74-year-old Bernard Preynat behind closed doors because of the spreading coronavirus that has shuttered most activity in France.

Preynat’s case forced the first serious reckoning with sex abuse within the Catholic Church in France. Preynat testified that multiple cardinals and other senior church officials were aware of his misconduct dating back to the 1960s, but he wasn’t removed from the priesthood until last year.

Victims of Preynat’s abuse, primarily boy scouts, welcomed his conviction for sexually abusing minors. Preynat was a scout leader.

“It’s really a relief,” said Pierre Emmanuel Germain-Thill, who testified that Preynat’s abuse upturned his life. “Since he’s someone of a certain age, it seems like a correct verdict to me. The victims want to turn the page.”

Preynat could have faced up to 10 years in prison, and the prosecution had asked for at least eight years. It wasn’t immediately clear whether either side would appeal.

Preynat was present for the verdict, but didn’t speak to any victims.

“He reacted as a man who has recognized his guilt,” his lawyer Frederic Doyer told reporters outside the courthouse.

During the trial, Preynat said he became interested in young boys when he was 14 or 15, and he discussed it with his bishop of the time, but was still later ordained as a priest. Preynat testified that while working as their scout chaplain, he abused up to two boys “almost every weekend” from 1970 to 1990 and as many as four or five a week when he led one-week scout camps. He said that successive Lyon cardinals told him to stop, but didn’t report him to police.