A Polish court on Wednesday sentenced a former priest convicted of abusing minors in the Dominican Republic and Poland to seven years in prison.
A court in Wolomin, near Warsaw, found Wojciech Gil guilty of abusing six minors in the Caribbean nation between 2009 and 2013 and two in Poland in 2000-2001. The charges also included possession of child pornography and illegal possession of a gun.
Gil, 37, had pleaded not guilty, but sought a settlement and a seven-year prison term, which avoided a full trial. That was accepted by prosecutors, who represent the Dominican and the Polish victims. The court also ordered Gil to pay a total of 155,000 zlotys (euros 38,000; $41,000) in atonement to the victims.
If convicted after full court proceedings, Gil could have faced up to 15 years in prison.
It was not immediately clear how Wednesday's verdict would be received in the Dominican Republic, where the prosecutors revealed the case and requested a severe punishment.
Gil, has been under arrest since February 2014. Under Polish law, the time he has spent in prison will be deducted from the sentence.
He was tried in Poland because the country has no extradition agreement with the Dominican Republic, making a trial there impossible.
At his own request, Gil was defrocked last month.
His case is related to that of former Holy See ambassador to the Caribbean nation, former Polish archbishop Jozef Wesolowski. The Vatican has defrocked Wesolowski and is weighing whether to indict him on allegations that he paid Dominican shoeshine boys to masturbate. A Polish investigation into his case is stalled by a lack of evidence.
