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(CNN Spanish) - The trial for allegations of sexual abuse at the Provolo Institute against several deaf children is reaching its final stage. The case exposed the denunciations of more than 20 boys and girls against priests, religious and lay personnel of a school and boarding school in the Argentine province of Mendoza, on the border with Chile. The accused are tried for 25 events allegedly occurred between 2005 and 2015 to numerous students, confirmed a source of the trial.
The prosecutor's accusations maintain that during the last decade, the Provolo de Mendoza would have been the center of a circuit of systematic abuse against minors.
This week culminated the allegations of the complaints, confirmed the lawyers of the complainants to CNN, who requested sentences of between 15 and 50 years in prison for the three defendants.
The prosecution has already requested penalties between 45 years and 22 years and a half. It only remains for the defense to end its allegation for the court to set the date of sentencing, three sources of the trial added.
The Italian priest Nicolás Corradi (83) is the main accused. He was the director of the school for the deaf, who housed children from 4 to 17 years old and kept house prison. The priest Horacio Hugo Corbacho (59) and the gardener Armando Gómez (49) are also tried. Both are in prison.
The complainants expect the court to issue a judgment before November 26, the preventive detention of the three defendants on the expiration date, three sources of the trial confirmed to CNN. If the court took longer than that period, both Corradi (with house arrest in a nursing home) and Corbacho and Gómez (detained for three years), could recover their freedom.
Prosecutors requested that both priests, Corradi and Corbacho, be sentenced to 45 years in prison, a source from the prosecution confirmed to CNN. For the gardener Gomez asked for 22 and a half years. The charges are for aggravated sexual abuse of minors with carnal access, simple sexual abuse and corruption of minors.
The lawyers of the now ex-students of Provolo integrate two different complaints. The complaint of the NGO Xumek concentrates the most serious accusations against the priest Corbacho. They asked the court to sentence him to 50 years in prison, the NGO confirmed to CNN.
For Corradi and Gómez, Xumek requested sentences of 15 years in prison.
The second complaint requested 50 years in prison for the priest Corradi, as his representatives denounced the most serious events against the former director of the institute. They asked that Corbacho be also sentenced to 50 years and gardener Gomez, 30, lawyer Oscar Barreda confirmed to CNN.
CNN contacted the official defense of the three defendants, but in the lawyer's office they said they will not make statements. In the order of allegations, the defense has the last word. Neither Gomez nor Corradi have demonstrated during the investigation or trial. During the beginning of the case, Corbacho said he was innocent, but did not testify during the hearings. The three defendants will have the opportunity to address the court before hearing the sentence, which is expected on November 22 or 25. In her first part of the allegation, the defender pointed to alleged nullities in the investigation and questioned the testimonies of the complainants, two sources present during the hearing confirmed to CNN.
When this trial is over, the prosecution will proceed in a process against eight other defendants, including a nun and seven laymen who performed administrative tasks in the Provolo de Mendoza and are accused of not having denounced the facts, a court source confirmed. The first preliminary hearing is calculated for Friday, November 22.
A trial against the nun Kumiko Kosaka is also pending, noted as who would have selected and handed the children over to the defendants, who would then have abused them. In addition, she is accused of alleged sexual abuse but pleads not guilty to all charges.
Background
The case came to light in 2016, but CNN verified in the files that the first complaints in Mendoza date from 2006 and 2008. They were made by students of reserved identity. Then, those complaints were not investigated and the abuses would have been extended until 2015, according to the accusation.
The suspicions about Provolo extend to the 60s and 70s, in Verona, Italy, the main headquarters of the institute. The Vatican closed an internal investigation that determined that only one of the accused was guilty. In the 70s, Corradi was transferred to Argentina. It appears in the list of those indicated by Italian alumni.
The authorities of this school, which depends on the Catholic Congregation of Provolo, are also investigated in the city of La Plata, about 60 kilometers from Buenos Aires. Bishop Alberto Bochatey, supervisor of Provolo, told CNN on several occasions that he hopes the justice will come to the truth.
In Mendoza, Justice has already obtained a conviction: Jorge Luis Bordón, Provolo warden, pleaded guilty to aggravated sexual abuse in 2018 and was sentenced to 10 years in prison.
Sexual abuse Case Provolo
