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Bavarian court jails ex-priest for 108 counts of child sex abuse

A German former Catholic priest was on Thursday sentenced to eight and a half years in prison for more than 100 cases of child sexual abuse and other offences.

Published: 22 February 2018 14:25 CET

Bavarian court jails ex-priest for 108 counts of child sex abuse

Thomas Maria B. in court in Deggendorf. Photo: DPA

The 53-year-old will undergo years of therapy in a closed psychiatric institution before starting his prison term, a court in the southeastern city of Deggendorf ruled.

Whether he will ever be released depends on whether he is still deemed a threat to society, said chief justice Thomas Trautwein.

Previously named in media reports as Thomas Maria B., the former priest had previously been jailed from 2003 to 2009 for other sexual crimes.

He later obtained new church qualification papers to work as a priest using forged documents.

In his latest trial, he was found guilty of sexually abusing five boys in 108 cases since the 1990s.

He was also convicted of the attempted rape of an 18-year-old girl, as well as assault and possession of child pornography.

The abuses were committed around the German cities of Mainz and Deggendorf as well as in Austria, Switzerland, Italy and Poland, the court was told.

Aide to German far-right MEP arrested on suspicion of spying for China

The man, named only as Jian G., stands accused of sharing information about negotiations at European Parliament with a Chinese intelligence service and of spying on Chinese opposition figures in Germany, federal prosecutors said in a statement.

On the website of the European Parliament, Jian Guo is listed as an accredited assistant to MEP Maximilian Krah, the far-right AfD party’s lead candidate in the forthcoming EU-wide elections.

He is a German national who has reportedly worked as an aide to Krah in Brussels since 2019.

The suspect “is an employee of a Chinese secret service”, prosecutors said.

“In January 2024, the accused repeatedly passed on information about negotiations and decisions in the European Parliament to his intelligence service client.

“He also spied on Chinese opposition members in Germany for the intelligence service.”

The suspect was arrested in the eastern German city of Dresden on Monday and his homes were searched, they added.

The accused lives in both Dresden and Brussels, according to broadcasters ARD, RBB and SWR, who broke the news about the arrest.

The AfD said the allegations were “very disturbing”.

“As we have no further information on the case, we must wait for further investigations by federal prosecutors,” party spokesman Michael Pfalzgraf said in a statement.

The case is likely to fuel concern in the West about aggressive Chinese espionage.

It comes after Germany on Monday arrested three German nationals suspected of spying for China by providing access to secret maritime technology.

READ ALSO: Germany arrests three suspected of spying for China

China’s embassy in Berlin “firmly” rejected the allegations, according to Chinese state-run news agency Xinhua.

According to German media, the two cases are not connected.

In Britain on Monday, two men were charged with handing over “articles, notes, documents or information” to China between 2021 and last year.

Police named the men as Christopher Berry, 32, and Christoper Cash, 29, who previously worked at the UK parliament as a researcher.

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