This is the case which led in 2019 to the resignation of the Primate of Gaul Mgr Barbarin because of his silence on the sexual abuse of the priest Bernard Preynat.
A prelude in a way to the earthquake of the Sauvé report which is currently shaking the Catholic Church.
The former priest Bernard Preynat, sentenced in 2020 to five years in prison for sexual assaults on young scouts committed between 1971 and 1991 in the diocese of Lyon, was arrested Wednesday in the Loire in execution of his sentence.
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The now 76-year-old former priest, who had previously avoided incarceration for health reasons, was to be brought before a judge and jailed afterward, a source told AFP, confirming a report. information from M 6.
His lawyer: "His state of health is worrying"
"It is a sentence which is carried out", declared Me Frédéric Doye, lawyer of Bernard Preynat, refusing to "further comment" on this point.
His “state of health is very worrying and a medical opinion must be given, which will be done because he will see a doctor when he arrives in prison.
Either his state of health is compatible with imprisonment, or he is not and this will be another step, ”added the lawyer.
In autumn 2020, Bernard Preynat, who had initially appealed just after his conviction, withdrew from this appeal, paving the way for his imprisonment.
Six years after the first complaints lodged in 2015 by former scouts abused at the time by the chaplain of Sainte-Foy-lès-Lyon (Rhône), this announcement ended a long legal fight that put the 'Church of France and its highest dignitary, Cardinal Philippe Barbarin, singled out for their silence.
Read alsoBernard Preynat, the father who believed himself to be all-powerful, facing the judges
At her trial in March 2020, the prosecutor accused the former chaplain of having "broken" the lives of young scouts and of having "used the silence of parents and the silence of the Church" to multiply her abuses.
One of the lawyers for the civil parties estimated the number of assaults to be between 3,000 and 4,000.
Maintained in office by the diocese of Lyon until the fall of 2015 when his actions had been known for a long time, Bernard Preynat had asked for forgiveness from the nine victims who came to testify about their suffering.
Many others were unable to file a complaint because of the limitation period.
Sentenced at first instance in 2019 for his silences on the case, Bishop Barbarin was then released on appeal but resigned from his duties as Archbishop of Lyon.