HIGH-RANKING ARCHBISHOP CONVICTED OF SEX ASSAULT

HIGH-RANKING ARCHBISHOP CONVICTED OF SEX ASSAULT ( pizzagate )

submitted 2020-12-18T05:38:28 by fogdryer

PARIS (ChurchMilitant.com) – Archbishop Luigi Ventura, a Vatican diplomat, has been found guilty of sexual assault and given a suspended sentence of eight months in prison. In November, prosecutors demanded 10 months of conditional confinement for Ventura, who served as apostolic nuncio to Paris from 2009–2019. The disgraced Churchman was alleged to have “placed his hands on the buttocks” of four young men.

Under French law, the maximum sentence for sexual assault is five years in prison and a 75,000 euro fine. The prelate will pay between 2,000–6,000 euros in fines and court costs. Ventura's legal counsel, attorney Solange Doumic, told the court that the sentence is “radically disproportionate” to the alleged crimes. Claiming that the trial was painful for Ventura. Doumic added that she was not certain if she will appeal the case.

2019, prosecutors in Paris launched a probe into allegations of sexual assault made against Ventura, who was also titular archbishop of Equilio. According to documents presented to a court, a worker at the Paris City Council had made allegations against Ventura. An investigation began on Jan. 24, 2019, after Mathieu De La Souchère — a 30-year-old male employee — accused the 76-year-old diplomat of groping him several times during a ceremony at the city hall.