Belgian Abuse Raids Ruled Illegal

The Tablet
May 30, 2013

http://www.thetablet.co.uk/latest-news/5355

The country's highest appeals court ruled on Tuesday that evidence seized in police searches of church offices, its sexual abuse commission and the flat of Cardinal Godfried Danneels in June 2010 could not be used to prosecute the Church for covering up the abuse scandal.

The Cour de Cassation ruling came after lower courts had issued contradictory rulings on the legality of the searches, which included a bizarre visit to the crypt of Mechelen cathedral to search the tomb of a deceased cardinal for documents wrongly said to be hidden there.

Belgium's bishops, who were meeting at the Brussels archdiocese headquarters in the suburb of Mechelen when police raided, were held incommunicado there for nine hours while the premises were searched. The Vatican protested strongly against the raids.