A Victim of a Pedophile Priest Reported to the Belgian Justice, The Ennahar, June 29, 2010

A Victim of a Pedophile Priest Reported to the Belgian Justice

The Ennahar
June 29, 2010

http://www.ennaharonline.com/en/international/4308.html

BRUSSELS - The victim of a pedophile priest Belgium, whose testimony before a commission of inquiry has been caught with hundreds of others by the police, decided to emerge from anonymity to control the use that justice will make of his case, said Tuesday the daily De Standaard.

This sociologist of 63, Jan Hertogen, testified under the seal of confidentiality before a commission set up by the Church to record acts of pedophilia committed by clergy. He described the sexual abuse he suffered when he was involved in Catholic youth movements.

But the Belgian police seized June 24 some 450 records that the committee held during searches conducted on behalf of the court in Brussels. This prompted the commission to announce Monday its resignation.

Unhappy also of this judicial initiative, Mr. Hertogen reported Monday to the court in Brussels as a "person aggrieved", which will permit him to be informed about what the judge will make of his case, he explained to Standaard.

"I urge all victims to do the same thing," said Hertogen to the Dutch newspaper.

"It's the only right that we still have. This requires the court to consider us, the victims," he added.

Given the seniority of the facts, his case is prescribed, and he did not wish that justice is informed.

The Committee undertook to bring to the attention of justice the most serious cases, still prosecuted, as it would have considered his work as completed.

But the Belgian justice seems to have decided otherwise, in apparent fear that the Belgian Church wants to stifle the most sensitive cases