Complaint for threats by Omella against a victim of pedophilia who accused him of "inaction" filed

BarcelonaJustice has rejected the lawsuit with which the Archbishop of Barcelona, Joan Josep Omella, accused a victim of pedophilia of threats. The victim had reproached him for his "inaction in reporting" ex officio the abuses he had suffered by a priest and which he himself had communicated to him in previous meetings. Up to four judges have concluded that the young man's claims do not constitute a crime of threats, as Omella had argued.

In fact, three magistrates from the Barcelona Court have validated the decision already made by the investigating judge and which Omella had appealed. In a ruling that El País has advanced and the ARA has consulted, the judges of the eighth section reiterate their rejection of Omella's lawsuit due to the burofax sent by the young man. In the message, he warned that he expected a response and that if he did not receive one, he reserved the possibility of taking appropriate actions, both civil and criminal, as well as the option of communicating the facts to a "higher ecclesiastical instance".

The magistrates point out the "ambiguity" of the facts reported by Omella, who, after the first judge, investigating court 17 of Barcelona, dismissed a crime of threats, also raised the possibility that the young man's message constituted slander or libel. The judges have also dismissed this, and consider that the young man's message was "a legitimate action" and not a criminal offense as the cardinal had argued.

The court emphasizes that, in the message, the young man did not hold the cardinal responsible for the sexual abuse he was reporting, but rather limited himself to reproaching him for "his inaction in reporting the facts ex officio", even though he himself had informed him.