Justice ordered a bishop for the first time on Tuesday to release the religious record of a priest convicted of pedophilia to a victim who claimed it in a civil action against the Church. In summary proceedings, the court of Bourg-en-Bresse ordered the bishop of the diocese of Belley-Ars, Ain, Msgr Pascal Roland, to communicate, within 15 days, to Jean-Yves Schmitt, a retiree of 67 years who lives in the department, "the entirety of the file concerning Felix Hutin held by the bishopric".
The 86-year-old former priest was sentenced in civil court in July 2015 by the Nantua local judge who found him responsible for the sexual assaults undergone by Jean-Yves Schmitt during his childhood in a high school in Bourg-en-Bresse. , where the monk officiated as chaplain in the 1960s. The facts have long been prescribed on a criminal level.
Vatican accused of exfiltering priest in Switzerland
The victim, who was subsequently sentenced for pedophilia, has taken legal action in France against the Vatican, which he accuses of having exfiltrated the priest in Switzerland in the 1970s when his actions caused a scandal in Ain. . To this end, he had asked the diocese for the first time, amicably, to communicate to him the priest's file. Faced with the bishop's refusal, he had summoned him to court a fortnight ago. "This is a first that will facilitate the fight against the victims of pedophile priests by giving them access to the evidence that is often concealed by the bishoprics," said the lawyer's lawyer, Emmanuel Ludot.