Two priests and a gardener, accused of sexually assaulting deaf children for years in a specialized institute, have been on trial since Monday in Argentina, a case that shakes the country of Pope Francis.
Nicola Corradi, 83, and Horacio Corbacho, 59, and gardener Armando Gomez, 49, are charged with sexual assault, minor corruption and ill-treatment. They incur up to 50 years in prison.
Former students protest in court
The last two arrived at the hearing handcuffed and escorted by police officers, while Nicola Corradi, an Italian priest who lives in Argentina since 1970, was in a wheelchair pushed by a woman in uniform.
At the entrance to the courthouse, a group of former students of the Provolo Catholic Institute were demonstrating with placards reading "Provolo Mendoza Survivors Support", "Justice!" or "With our hands, we break the silence".
43 files reviewed
During this trial, which will be held behind closed doors for about two months, 43 cases will be examined and 13 victims heard, some of which were abused between the ages of 4 and 17 years. In this vast case, a former mass servant, Jorge Bordon, 50, has already been sentenced last year to 10 years in prison after admitting to having abused five victims. About 15 other defendants are to be tried in two other trials.
The Provolo Institute, located at the foot of the Andes, in Mendoza, 1,000 km west of Buenos Aires, was closed in 2016, when the scandal erupted.