CANBERRA (AUSTRALIA)
AFP
March 11, 2020
Lawyers for disgraced Cardinal George Pell claimed Wednesday he remains behind bars for child sex abuse based on “wrong” and “egregious” legal decisions, as they concluded a last-ditch appeal in Australia’s top court.
The 78-year-old former Vatican treasurer is trying to overturn a six-year sentence for sexually assaulting two choirboys in the 1990s.
Pell, who once helped elect popes, is the highest-ranking Catholic Church official to be convicted of child sex crimes.
He was not present for the two-day hearing at the High Court in Canberra, but supporters and protesters gathered outside, waving Australian flags and carrying rival signs that read “keep the faith Cardinal Pell” and “Burn in hell Pell”.
The court’s seven judges could decide to reject the appeal — leaving Pell to serve the remainder of his sentence — or allow it, giving him the prospect of walking free. They could also send the case back to a lower court to reconsider.
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