Un juge de la Rote condamné pour possession d’images pédopornographiques

ROME
La Croix

>>>Rota judge sentenced for possession of child pornography

February 16, 2018

By Nicolas Senèze

Mgr Pietro Amenta a plaidé coupable après la découverte de 80 photos pédopornographiques sur son ordinateur et a été condamné, jeudi 15 février, à 14 mois de prison avec sursis.

Un prélat auditeur du Tribunal de la Rote romaine, la plus haute juridiction de l’Église en matière de procès matrimoniaux, a été condamné jeudi 15 février par un juge de Rome pour détention d’images à caractère pédopornographiques, rapporte le quotidien Il Messaggero.

Ayant choisi de plaider coupable, Mgr Pietro Amenta, 55 ans, prêtre du diocèse de Matera (sud de l’Italie), a écopé d’une peine de 14 mois de prison avec sursis.

Selon le quotidien romain, l’affaire aurait éclaté un soir du mois de mars après une altercation, quand un jeune Roumain de 18 ans a accusé un homme d’attouchement dans un marché.

[Google Translation:

Rota judge sentenced for possession of child pornography

Bishop Pietro Amenta pleaded guilty after the discovery of 80 child pornography photos on his computer and was sentenced Thursday, February 15, to 14 months of suspended sentence.

A prelate auditor of the Court of the Roman Rota, the highest court of the Church in matrimonial matters, was sentenced on Thursday, February 15 by a judge in Rome for possession of images of child pornography, reports the daily Il Messaggero .

Having chosen to plead guilty, Msgr. Pietro Amenta, 55, priest of the diocese of Matera (southern Italy), received a suspended sentence of 14 months in prison.

According to the Roman daily, the affair broke out one evening in March after an altercation, when an 18-year-old Romanian boy accused a man of touch in a market.

Known to the police
To explain his ambiguous gestures, the man, who turned out to be a priest, first argued that there was not much room between the stalls before he fled, pursued by the young man.

Both were then caught by an off-duty municipal officer, before the arrival of a carabineros car where the young man complained that he had twice been touched by the priest.

During the carabineros’ inquiries, it became clear that the young Romanian was not known to the Italian police, while the priest, prelate auditor at La Rote since 2012, had already been the subject of a complaint for obscene acts in 1991 and, in 2004, for sexual harassment. In 2013, he also filed a complaint after being robbed by two transsexuals.

Investigations at the Vatican
During a search of his home, the carabinieri then found on his computer 80 pornographic photos with minors in the foreground. If he denied having downloaded them, the priest then chose to make a deal with Italian justice.

If the case concerned the Italian justice, the promoter of justice of the State of the Vatican City had revealed, early February at the time of the Vatican judicial return, that his services were currently investigating two cases of pedophilia from people working for the Vatican.

So far, only one case was known: that of a priest of the nunciature in Washington targeted by an investigation for possession of child pornography.

“The investigations initiated are at the preliminary stage and are carried out conscientiously, with the most absolute reserve, out of respect for all the persons concerned”, assured the prosecutor Gian Piero Milano, expressing the “determination” of the Vatican justice in the material.]

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