Melbourne (AFP)

The Supreme Court of the Australian state of Victoria on Wednesday rejected Cardinal George Pell's appeal against his conviction for sexual assault on choir children, and kept him in detention.

"He will continue to serve his six-year sentence," said Judge Anne Ferguson, dismissing the thirteen appeals filed by the defenders of the 78-year-old Australian prelate, former Vatican number three.

A large crowd of victims, activists, lawyers and journalists had gathered in front of the Melbourne courthouse to await the verdict, delivered by the three appeals judges after two months of deliberation.

The highest representative of the Catholic Church ever convicted of raping minors, Cardinal Pell, who claims his innocence, was convicted in December of five counts, including the imposition of a blowjob in 1996 to a boy of 13 years old and masturbating while rubbing against each other.

The facts had taken place in the sacristy of Melbourne's St. Patrick's Cathedral, of which Mgr. Pell was the archbishop, where the two victims had been hiding to drink mass wine. Two months later, Mr. Pell, then Archbishop of Melbourne, had pushed one of the teenagers against a wall and grabbed his genitals.

The cardinal has the opportunity to appeal to the High Court of Australia, the highest court in the country.

© 2019 AFP