- There are currently 147 forensic studies in the Spanish State for sexual abuse inside the Church, 67% of which are cases after the year 2000. The Public Prosecutor's Office has stated in its annual report that "subsidiary civil liability" of ecclesiastical institutions should be analysed if there are indications that those responsible have covered the crimes.
Impunity for abuses within the Church and its accomplices, albeit gradually, is coming to an end, or at least that is what comes from the realm of justice. The Spanish State Public Prosecutor's Office urges prosecutors to examine whether in the case of pederastia the accusation should be "extended" to the institutions and officials of the Church.
In its annual report, the State Prosecutor’s Office says that the indictment should be extended to those who have had a “covering conduct” of sexual abuse, as there could be “subsidiary civil liability”. Thus, it has endangered the leaders of the Church, educational institutions and other institutions.
If this path is opened, it would be a leap forward, as no bishop has yet been placed before the judge in the Spanish state. Moreover, most of the current sentences have limited the penalties to the aggressor, as in most cases they did not have a direct employment relationship with the Church.
Ten proceedings filed in Hego Euskal Herria
In 2022, the Attorney General’s Office took charge of coordinating investigations into ecclesiastical pederasty cases in the courts, requesting information from the territorial prosecutors.
In Hego Euskal Herria there are data on twelve judicial proceedings, but ten of them have been filed because the crimes have been prescribed, the abuser has died or because the facts cannot be proved.
According to the report, the Public Prosecutor’s Office has at the moment received data from 147 investigations and previous investigations from the communities of the Spanish State, most of them from Madrid and Catalonia. In Hego Euskal Herria there are data on twelve proceedings, of which ten have been filed for the prescription of crimes, for the death of the abuser or for the inability to prove the facts.
Another relevant fact from the report of the Fiscal Ministry is that 67% of the cases investigated or in process are since 2000 and only 33% are before 1990. On the other hand, of the 20 sentences handed down so far by the courts, 19 have condemned the pederasta and only one accused has been acquitted.
Many complaints have not come directly to the prosecutors’ offices, but through the victims’ offices. However, the prosecutor acknowledges that it is partial data that he has in his hands, because there is no record of his own for such procedures and because most are based solely on the testimonies collected in the years 2021 and 2022, he considers that the time is very short.