Basel diocese received 120 reports of mostly statute-barred assaults
Published: Friday, Jun 28th 2024, 10:40
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The diocese of Basel has provided information on the status of the investigation into reports of sexual assault. Since last September, 120 reports have been received. Most of them concern people who have already died or are time-barred, as the diocese announced on Friday.
In September 2023, the Roman Catholic Church published a pilot study on the topic of sexual assault. Since then, the independent reporting office of the Diocese of Basel has inspected 105 files of personnel, victims, parishes and religious orders.
Of the 120 reports, the reporting office has completed 76 by making recommendations to Bishop Felix Gmür. 44 report dossiers are still being processed, as the diocese writes.
95 percent of these reports concerned accused persons who were already deceased, time-barred sexual assaults from the period between 1930 and 2010 - i.e. before Bishop Gmür took office - as well as reports in which "neither the accused person, the alleged victim nor what happened is known or can be ascertained".
The independent law firm commissioned by the diocese has submitted applications for compensation in ten cases. Eight cases are still being processed. The law firm has also been entrusted with three preliminary investigations under canon law, two of which are still ongoing.
The study conducted by the University of Zurich in September 2023 showed that Roman Catholic priests and members of religious orders in Switzerland had committed over 1,000 cases of sexual abuse since 1950 - with a high number of unreported cases. A second study has been in progress since the beginning of the year. The results are due to be presented in 2027.
©Keystone/SDA
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