Two Catalan Jesuits imprisoned for covering up child abuse cases in Bolivia.
The court sentences Ramon Alaix and Marcos Recolons for concealing the abuses of the deceased priest Alfonso Pedrajas.
BarcelonaA Bolivian court sentenced Catalan Jesuits Ramon Alaix and Marcos Recolons, both former provincials of the Society of Jesus, to one year in prison on Tuesday for covering up sexual abuse committed by the late priest Alfonso Pedrajas. Furthermore, sources from the Bolivian Community of Survivors (CBS) assured Efe news agency that this sentence opens the door to four more legal proceedings. According to this organization, which represents victims, there are 12 other Jesuits (also deceased) who allegedly committed sexual abuse against 500 minors in boarding schools, schools, and rural areas of Bolivia, and who allegedly enjoyed the support of the then-high-ranking officials of the religious order in the country.
"Both defendants have been found guilty of concealing the crime. Both have been sentenced to one year of imprisonment to be served in the Cochabamba public prison, and other protective measures have been ordered for the victims," spokesperson Alvarado explained to Efe, insisting that this sentence has merit and could pave the way for the rest of the pending legal proceedings. Last week, the judge denied the appeal filed by the defense of Alaix and Recolons, both over 80 years old, seeking the statute of limitations in the case. Pedrajas was director of the Juan XXIII School in the Bolivian city of Cochabamba since 1971, and according to CBS, he allegedly abused nearly 200 victims.
In Catalonia, the Jesuits a year ago They have already recognized up to 145 victims of sexual abuse by 44 aggressors from 1948 to the present, the result of an investigation that also led to the identification of a total of 44 abusers, 29 of whom were Jesuit religious and 15 lay people. The majority of these abuses were perpetrated at the Casp and Sant Ignasi de Sarrià schools—both in Barcelona—which together account for 118 complaints. Even so, the religious order admitted that they are "fully aware" that this data does not represent the total number of victims.
