NEW YORK
Press TV (Iran)
Victims of child sex abuse in the US state of New York say their fight for justice has been stalled by the political apparatus of the state’s Roman Catholic Church.
The church and other institutions are preventing state lawmakers from passing a bill that would relax one of the nation’s tightest laws of limitations on filing criminal charges against sexual abusers, The Associated Press reported Sunday.
New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo is a key supporter of the Child Victims Act, a retroactive bill that has languished in the state’s Legislature for over a decade.
“These survivors deserve justice, plain and simple,” Cuomo said in a statement to The AP. “Giving victims the opportunity to advance their claims in court is the right thing to do, and I urge the Legislature to join me and pass this measure once and for all.”
A similar law in California, passed in 2002, resulted in Catholic dioceses there paying $1.2 billion in legal settlements.
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