36-year old Polish priest Wojciech Gil (Padre Alberto) has been charged with four counts of sex offenses against children under 15 years in Poland and in the Dominican Republic, where he lead the parish of Juncalito in the central province of Santiago. The priest was detained by the Polish police near the southern city of Cracow on Monday, 17 February. He had been under investigation by the Polish prosecutors since September. The Polish prosecutors are following up on initial investigations into the case by Dominican prosecutors. Dominican prosecutors provided documents to substantiate the sexual abuse claims. The priest was ordered to serve three months preventive custody as the case investigations continue.
What is new is that Wojciech Gil is being charged for sexual offenses in Poland also.
“Two of the charges concern acts that took place in the Dominican Republic, to the harm of citizens of the Dominican Republic, and two concern acts that took place in Poland and concern Polish citizens,” Przemyslaw Nowak, spokesman for the District Public Prosecutor’s Office in Wars, told a news conference, as reported in The Voice of Warsaw. A Dominican TV investigative report first revealed the wrongdoings, after which the priest left the country. The priest has denied the wrongdoings and has said he was being set up by the local drug gangs he had opposed.
As reported, Wojciech Gil faces up to 12 years in prison if he is convicted.
The investigative video on the Juncalito parish priest also revealed the close ties of Wojciech to former Vatican nuncio in the Dominican Republic, Polish Archbishop Josef Wesolowski who was recalled in August by the Vatican and is being investigated there on child sexual abuse charges.
http://www.warsawvoice.pl/WVpage/pages/article.php/27387/news