May 23, 2023, 6:00 AM
May 23, 2023, 6:00 AM
Yesterday, the former Jesuit Pedro Lima tried to present his complaint of sexual abuse to the Public Ministry, but this time as a victim. However, the La Paz Prosecutor’s Office rejected the complaint and referred it to Sucre as it corresponds to that jurisdiction.
Lima said that he still does not have an exact date, but that he will make his statement, and also announced that this Friday he will be in Santa Cruz, as a witness, in the case of Alfonso ‘Pica’ Pedrajas.
He recognized that there are victims who have been discouraged by this type of situation in the judicial bureaucracy, but he clarified that he does not want to speak out against the process. “Despite the deficiencies, I do not want to say anything about the Prosecutor’s Office,” he emphasized to EL DEBER.
Also, yesterday the Public Ministry tried to notify the ex-Jesuit in La Paz, for the Osvaldo Chirveches case against accessories after the fact, but Lima refused to sign. I didn’t sign because he
(Chirveches) is an accessory after the fact and wants to appear as a complainant, and I as his witness.
I will always endorse that Chirveches is out of the process because it would be a fundamental error to accept him as a complainant. It’s a way to get rid of
the charges, and if I testify, I exclude him as an accessory after the fact,” he said.
They question Lima
For Audalia Zurita, a lawyer for the Compañía de Jesús congregation, Pedro Lima’s versions have a very strange evolution.
“Before, you said that you were in contact with a man who committed suicide, and that he was the victim of
‘Pica’ Pedrajas. He also stated that he knew many victims and that he was a witness, but today he declares himself a victim. It is an unexpected evolution, ”he alluded to.
Likewise, Zurita assured that Lima began to mention Alejandro Mestre “in his avalanche of information”, after the Company of
Jesus will name it.
Lima replied that he always said that he was a witness, but he did not exclude appearing in another
condition. “I never said that I was only a witness. I never said that I was not a victim. There is no strange evolution of my complaint. My subject is very painful, it is difficult for me to talk about it, ”she asserted.
The lawyer also observed that it is striking that all voices advocate compensation, when the facts have not yet been clarified, and assured that the Society of Jesus will comply with what justice says in due course.
“Where has it been seen that the prosecutor receives all the victims? There are thousands of cases of children being sexually assaulted. Is the prosecutor concerned about the other cases of rape in state schools, or foster homes. He has never done it. There are too many coincidences and all the voices talk about compensation ”,
pointed.
He believes that the current slogan is “hit the Church hard, and the congregation,” while conflicts remain in the background. Likewise, Zurita said that the congregation is doing everything possible to help clarify, but it cannot be done if it is not based on the testimonies of the victims, for this reason he summons
to the victims.
He recalled that the complaints against Luis Roma
came out in a publication of the EFE agency in 2019, and that the Public Ministry should have acted
ex officio, but he emphasized that he only did it when the publications of El País, from Spain, began.
trespassing
Yesterday, the Prosecutor’s Office, in coordination with the Special Force to Combat Violence (Felcv), raided the Casa de la Esperanza, in Cochabamba, where five elderly religious live who allegedly knew of the sexual abuse committed by Alfonso
Pedrajas. Documentation and a central computer processing unit were seized.
Zurita regretted that confusion was generated, since it was implied that four
unprocessed complaints. “These are the four cases previously reported to the Prosecutor’s Office,” she clarified.
INFORMATION
Via the Foreign Ministry, the Bolivian government requested information on the abuses from the Spanish Prosecutor’s Office and the newspaper El País.
NEW COMPLAINT AGAINST ‘PICA’
Through their platforms, enabled on May 2, the Society of Jesus received a complaint of abuse against ‘Pica’ Pedrajas, which was referred to the Prosecutor’s Office.
