translated from Spanish: Prosecutor Arias interview to a Spanish means: “the Catholic Church is not a mafia or criminal organization”

a network of cases about the alleged co Mission of charges of cover-up, sexual abuse, child abuse and rape in the bosom of the Catholic Church in Chile for decades is the puzzle that the regional public prosecutor of O’Higgins, Emiliano Arias, tries to solve for months.
A puzzle that begins to collect “a look more typical of what could be organized crime, so to speak, or the crime committed within an organization,” said Arias in an interview with Efe.
The Prosecutor explained that this is due to that involved not only the perpetrators, but also “the accomplices and the accomplices”.
“It’s a quite similar to the corruption phenomenon. The fundamental characteristic of the corruption and why it is so dangerous is because it is very viral, in the sense that is committed and is involved in the Act of corruption not only the offender (…), but also all those who participated in that fact and not reported “, or that they participated and received”, added.
However, Arias said that “the Church is not a mafia or criminal organization”, since this legal term is conditioned to the Organization “should be have been formed to commit those illegal”.
However, what happens in this case is that committed these crimes within an organization, the Church, but that it does not have a criminal purpose.
Arias works currently with 70 investigations for sexual abuses in relation to 155 victims and with more than 60 priests accused, numerous pieces of a puzzle that expands on a regular basis with the passage of the weeks with new statements or records.
Figures that add to the investigations which are conducted in other regions of Chile and, according to the national prosecutor’s Office, comprising 119 investigations opened nationally, 167 people charged with 178 victims quantified until the end of last August, 79 of which they were underage at the time of the facts.
The vast majority of these great puzzle pieces on sexual abuse in the clerical heart make up by priests and religious, but also laity and even seven bishops.
Precisely that of the Bishop – in Chile there are 34 – “is a central figure” in all the problems surrounding the scandals that are arising in the country, although Arias pointed out that it is not exclusive of Chile and keep “similar patterns” with other cases in Ireland, States United and Australia.
“The Bishop is a central figure in the canonical investigations. It is who started the research, determines who does research, examines the report of the investigator to find out whether credible or not are the facts that are charged to a particular person,”he said.
“Is, in some ways, who decides to not report these facts to the Civil Justice”, said the Prosecutor.
For those reasons, Arias is pending to attend the Declaration of the Archbishop of Santiago, Cardinal Ricardo Ezzati, for the alleged Commission of the offence of concealment.
The bishops “could have avoided that certain crimes continue committing, for example, having reported to civil justice appropriately serious acts”, said Arias.
“The conduct of the cover-up, if that he is credited, was certainly that made possible the Commission of these crimes repeatedly”, he added.
Time that happened – decades – while these cases out to the light is the main factor that O’Higgins Prosecutor has against solving the network, which now leads nationwide after being appointed Marauder reference for these causes.
The prescription of the majority of the cases – the National Prosecutor reported in late July that there are cases that date from 1960 – is what delays the progress of research.
Arias said that, although it collects complaints and obtain documentation in records to religious buildings – has carried out six raids in less than three months, including twice the Archbishopric of Santiago-, many are archived.
He pointed out that it is using a legal tool, “interruption of the limitation period is called”, he said, is allowing him to act retroactively.
“If the offender commits an offence in 2002, prescribed in 2007. When does not commit another crime in the intermediate term. If he commits another crime, for example, in 2004, it stops and we started (to count for prescription) again. That is what we are doing in all cases”, he said.
So Oscar Munoz got the imputation of the Mexico City Archdiocese announced the alleged Commission of sexual abuse and statutory rape against five minors in cases dating back to the year 2002, accusation which was decreed his pre-trial detention for more than one month.
“You have to find a case that is not prescribed to revive all previous (…) This means (the victims) to motivate us and not seen lost its case”, he said.
That motivation, break the silence that for years the victims kept to the prevailing impunity in the interior of the Church is what Arias intended to continue to add pieces to your puzzle.
“Our highest ambition is to have the maximum number of victims who trust us, so we explain, because they are the only ones who can tell us, why this happens and why it was not reported,” said Arias.

Original source in Spanish