A court has ordered the arrest of a Polish priest suspected of sexually abusing a teenager in a Rio de Janeiro suburb and turning his parish home into what the judge described as an “erotic dungeon” for sex with adolescents, authorities said on Friday.
State prosecutors have accused Marcin Michael Strachanowski, 44, of handcuffing the 16-year-old former altar boy to a bed three years ago in the parish house where the priest lived and threatening to kill the youth if he spoke of the abuse.
“I already know the flowers I will place on your coffin,” Strachanowski warned the teen, prosecutors claimed.
The Polish priest was suspended from his duties after the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Rio de Janeiro learned of the order for his arrest, church spokesman Adionel Carlos da Cunha said in a statement issued on Friday. The judge issued the order on Thursday.
The archdiocese “expresses its regret over what happened, especially with the people involved and possible victims,” da Cunha said.
Judge Alexandre Abrahao Dias expressed concern that Strachanowski might try to flee the country.
He said investigators found “erotic material sent to the victim via the Internet to seduce him” and that the priest also took other youths to the parish house, “which he converted into a kind of erotic dungeon where he submitted them, often with the use of handcuffs, to orgies.”
Lawyers representing the priest did not immediately return a telephone message left on Friday afternoon seeking comment.
Church officials declined to provide additional information on Strachanowski, such as how long he has been in Brazil or his work history with the Church. Police said on Friday they had not located him.
The priest also faces a canonical legal process by an ecclesiastical tribunal, da Cunha said. The tribunal has taken what da Cunha described as “the necessary measures” regarding Strachanowski’s case — but the Church spokesman did not elaborate.
Sex-abuse scandals involving the Roman Catholic Church have mushroomed around the world recently and some of the accused priests have surfaced in Brazil, home to more Catholics than any other nation.
Late last month, prosecutors charged the Reverend Jose Afonso with abusing altar boys ranging in age from 12 to 16. Prosecutors said the alleged abuses took place in the city of Franca, in southeastern Sao Paulo State.
Also last month, 83-year-old Monsignor Luiz Marques Barbosa was detained in northeastern Brazil for allegedly abusing at least three boys after being caught on videotape having sex with a young man, a former altar boy.
Barbosa is under house arrest while authorities investigate. Two other priests in the same archdiocese are also accused of abuses.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese