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CRIME

French prosecutors drop ‘sexual assault’ probe into cardinal

French prosecutors said Saturday they had closed an investigation launched into a cardinal who admitted sexually assaulting a 13-year-old girl because the statute of limitations had expired, sparking anger among campaigners.

French prosecutors drop 'sexual assault' probe into cardinal
Photo: Valentine CHAPUIS/AFP

The probe was launched in November last year after a statement by Jean-Pierre Ricard, a retired bishop made a cardinal by pope Benedict XVI in 2006.

But Marseille prosecutor Dominique Laurens told AFP: “The case was closed due to the statute of limitations.”

The most serious sexual offences in France, such as rape, usually have a statute of limitations of 30 years.

Ricard, now 78, said in a letter last year to the church hierarchy that he had “behaved in a reprehensible way” towards a young girl 35 years ago.

Taken into custody on February 2, he told investigators he had “kissed” the girl, who he said had been about 13 years old. He had also embraced her and “caressed her over her clothes”, but “there was no sexual intercourse”, he added.

The victim told investigators the assaults had happened over a three-year period.

Ricard’s confession came after a devastating 2021 report in France estimated that Catholic clergy had abused 216,000 children since 1950.

Travesty’ of justice

Be Brave, which campaigns to end sexual violence against children, denounced the decision by the French legal system as a “masquerade” and a “travesty” of justice.

“Nothing has changed” since the publication of the French report into sexual abuse by the clergy, the group said in a statement, calling for wide-ranging judicial and parliamentary inquiries into paedophile criminal activity.

They also called for an end to the statute of limitations on this kind of crime.

Senator Xavier Iacovelli, whose parliamentary group forms part of the presidential majority, wrote on Twitter that it was “no longer conceivable to have this statute of limitations which prevents the judgement of sexual predators”.

The Bishops’ Conference of France told AFP its thoughts were with the victim because of everything that had been brought up for her again with the investigation.

The Vatican announced its own preliminary investigation into Ricard last November and that is still ongoing.

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CRIME

Teens charged in France over plot to attack Jewish targets: judicial source

French prosecutors have charged a 19-year-old man and a youth in the Paris region with planning a "terrorist" attack on Jewish targets, a judicial source told AFP on Friday.

Teens charged in France over plot to attack Jewish targets: judicial source

While no details on the pair have been released, French anti-terrorist investigators have expressed increased concern over the young age of some suspects detained in recent months for planning militant attacks.

The 19-year-old has been charged with “terrorist conspiracy” to commit attacks and the “acquisition and possession of arms for a terrorist enterprise,” said the judicial source, speaking on condition of anonymity.

READ ALSO: Anti-Semitism fears stalk Jewish voters’ choice in France

The youth aged under 18 was detained on June 13, the source said.

The pair made contact on social media and were planning a “a violent action notably aiming at Jewish targets,” said the source without giving details on the plot.

Anti-terrorism investigators say a growing number of youths have been held in recent months for preparing attacks.

READ ALSO: French election breakdown: TV debates, polling latest and anti-Semitism

“This is a necessarily worrying phenomenon,” senior anti-terrorist prosecutor Olivier Christen said at an evidentiary hearing on Wednesday.

French politicians have also condemned a growing number of attacks on the country’s Jewish community, the biggest outside Israel and the United States.

Outrage has been expressed over the rape of a 12-year-old Jewish girl in a park in the Paris suburbs last Saturday. Two 13-year-old boys have been charged with rape and making anti-Semitic insults.

Several protest rallies have been held in Paris and other French cities over the case which comes as France prepares for a national election in which the far-right National Rally party is tipped to make major gains. 

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