LA PAZ: A Bolivian court has sentenced two elderly Spanish Jesuit priests to one year each in prison for concealing decades of child sex abuse committed by a colleague.
The convictions of Marcos Recolons, aged eighty one, and Ramon Alaix, aged eighty three, represent Bolivia’s first successful criminal prosecution against high-ranking Catholic Jesuit officials for covering up abuse.
Prosecutors stated that Recolons and Alaix led the Jesuit order in Bolivia during the period when the abuse occurred and were aware of allegations against priest Alfonso Pedrajas.
They failed to report these allegations to police, allowing Pedrajas to maintain contact with children.
The case emerged publicly in 2023 following the publication of Pedrajas’s diary, which detailed his abuse of at least eighty five minors between 1972 and 2000.
Many victims were Indigenous students on scholarships at a prominent boarding school.
The diary’s contents caused international outrage and intensified scrutiny of the Catholic Church’s handling of abuse scandals in Latin America.
The judge ordered the defendants to serve their sentences at San Sebastian prison in Cochabamba, pay state court costs, and provide compensation to the victims.
The ruling also mandates that both priests undergo psychological treatment.
Prosecutors will now pursue new cases against other priests identified by victims during the trial.
A spokesperson for a Bolivian abuse survivors’ group described the one-year sentences as not very severe but significant for establishing responsibility.
He called the ruling a historic moment and expressed hope it would set a precedent to protect children from future abuse. – Reuters
