SWITZERLAND
swissinfo
MAY 26, 2015
Only around 20 criminal cases have been opened against priests and Catholic monks for sexual abuse in Switzerland since 2010, despite the church catching 172 alleged offenders.
Many of the recorded cases date back to the 1950s and some suspects have therefore died. However, that is not the only reason for the discrepancy – other suspects simply could not be tracked down, the Swiss Bishops Conference told the Swiss News Agency.
Joseph Bonnemain, secretary of the conference’s special commission on sexual abuse within the church, said the low prosecution rate was also down to the fact that the dioceses had provided “very sketchy” information, especially for the period between 1950 and 1980.
Many people close to abuse victims are convinced that certain clerics are protecting their colleagues.
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