By Sue Montgomery
Montreal Gazette
January 19, 2011
http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/Fugitive+priest+Dejaeger+returned+Canada/4133689/story.html
| Eric Dejaeger, a Belgian Roman Catholic priest who escaped prosecution for 15 years for sex crimes against Inuit children was returned to Canada Wednesday, because of an immigration violation in his native country. |
A Belgian Roman Catholic priest who escaped prosecution for 15 years for sex crimes against Inuit children was returned to Canada Wednesday because of an immigration violation in his native country.
Eric Dejaeger, who had lived in Canada's Arctic since the 1970s, returned to his native Belgium in 1995 after serving a five-year sentence for sexual abuse against children. More victims came forward and Interpol placed the 63-year-old priest on their wanted list in 2002.
But since the statute of limitations had expired in Belgium, Dejaeger couldn't be extradited, so he stayed until authorities discovered he had become a Canadian citizen and carried a passport that expired in 1997. He was ordered deported.
The RCMP confirmed that once Dejaeger arrives in Canada, he will be escorted to Iqaluit, Nunavut to face charges for crimes that allegedly occurred in Igloolik.
He pleaded guilty in 1990 to nine counts of sexual abuse against boys and girls in Baker Lake, an Inuit community on the western side of Hudson Bay.
Contact: smontgomery@montrealgazette.com
Any original material on these pages is copyright © BishopAccountability.org 2004. Reproduce freely with attribution.