Case of priest who raped student in Czech Republic reopened after 17 years
The Czech Constitutional Court has issued a ruling ordering police to reopen a 17-year-old case in which priest Antonín D. was suspected of sexually abusing a then-underage student.
The court found serious shortcomings in the initial investigation, which was suspended in 2008, which, they claim, violated the victim’s rights, writes local portal Novinky.cz, reports. KosovaPress.
The incident occurred in 2008 and 2009. While studying at the Faculty of Theology in Prague, the woman met a priest who was also her mentor for her graduation thesis. She confessed to him that when she was 17, another priest had touched her.
According to her, her mentor took advantage of that confession and began to “heal” her with various touches, and everything gradually escalated into various sexual activities.
The police began investigating the case only ten years later, but dismissed the report on the grounds that they did not see elements of a criminal offense in the man’s behavior towards the then-adult student.
The woman claimed she was unable to resist the priest’s actions because she was mentally paralyzed and was only able to verbalize her disagreement afterward. But, he says, that didn’t stop the priest from repeating the attacks.
She filed a constitutional complaint once, but was unsuccessful. Despite this, she did not give up – she turned to the European Court of Human Rights, which accepted her arguments and awarded her compensation in the amount of 25.000 euros.
According to the decision, Czech legislation was not sufficiently developed for situations in which a victim of sexual assault may find himself in a state of helplessness due to a psychological reaction.
The court noted that since 2003, the Czech Republic has pledged to punish all non-consensual sexual acts – that is, situations in which there is no clear consent from one party.
The woman appealed again to the Constitutional Court, which, in a rare move, decided to re-examine the case. A panel of judges, led by Judge Rapporteur Daniela Zemanova, ruled a few days ago that the police should return to the case.