Claims of child abuse by clergy in Belgium

The BBC reports that police investigating claims of child abuse by Belgian clergy have said that they are probing death threats against witnesses and magistrates. Last month police raided a meeting of Belgium’s Catholic bishops as part of their investigation, seizing computers and documents.

On the 30th March 2010, the BBC reported that the Roman Catholic Church in Germany was launching a telephone hotline for victims of sexual abuse.  The measure has been taken following allegations made by hundreds of people, who say that they were abused by priests as children between the 1950s and 1980s.

On the 20th March 2010 we reported on how different jurisdictions (including Germany) deal with the issue of child abuse in the criminal and civil arena.