Article

Priest Suspected in Rape of Underage Girl in Kabardino-Balkaria

Author: Translated by Barbara-Marie Drezhlo

Date Published: 12/22/2009

Publication: Interfax-Religion

In Kabardino-Balkaria, the Procurator’s Office conducted an initial inquiry concerning the pastor of an Orthodox parish suspected of committing sexual abuse against a child. “It is established that, in November, a drunken clergyman lewdly assaulted and debauched a ten-year-old girl in a lounge car”, Tatiana Nauzhokova, a senior aide to the head of the Investigative Division of the SKP RF in Kabardino-Balkaria told Interfax. According to Ms Nauzhokova, the actions of the priest are signs of a crime under Part 3 of Article 135 of the Criminal Code (indecent assault against a person obviously under the age of twelve). She noted that the data assembled as evidence by the SKP against the priest gave sufficient grounds to initiate criminal proceedings against him.