Polish Ex-Priest Sentenced to 7 Years on Abuse Charges

By Joanna Berendt
New York Times
March 25, 2015

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/26/world/europe/polish-ex-priest-sentenced-to-7-years-on-abuse-charges.html?_r=0

WARSAW — A former priest was sentenced Wednesday to seven years in prison on charges of sexually abusing eight children in Poland and the Dominican Republic, a spokesman for the regional court in Warsaw said.

The former priest, Wojciech Gil, who was charged with committing 10 crimes, eight of which related to the sexual abuse of boys under the age of 15, will also have to pay his victims compensation totaling about $43,000.

Mr. Gil, 36, who did not appear in the courtroom in Wolomin, near Warsaw, on Wednesday, avoided a full trial by offering on Friday to serve a prison term. Under Polish law, Mr. Gil, who led a parish in the Dominican Republic for nearly a decade, did not have to plead guilty. But the deal had to be accepted by the judge and the prosecutors who represented the Polish and Dominican victims, and the prosecutors had to present firm evidence of Mr. Gil’s guilt.

Mr. Gil’s lawyer, Michal Szreniawa, said his client’s worsening mental state and the publicity surrounding the trial were the main reasons for accepting the prison deal. “My client will not plead guilty, and it’s his right,” he said.