Showing posts with label report. Show all posts
Showing posts with label report. Show all posts
Wednesday, April 29, 2015
France investigates claims of Central African Republic child abuse by soldiers - UN aid worker suspended for leaking report, Child abuse inquiry judge to investigate Lord Janner allegations
France investigates claims of CAR child abuse by soldiers 4/29/15
A Parisian prosecutor says an investigation is under way into claims French soldiers in the Central African Republic sexually abused children.
France sent an initial 1,600 troops to the country in December 2013 after violence flared following a coup.
On Wednesday, the Guardian newspaper reported that a United Nations worker was suspended after leaking a report on abuses by French troops.
It says a UN report claimed children as young as nine were abused.
Agnes Thibault-Lecuivre, a spokeswoman for the Paris prosecutor's office, said an investigation had been under way since July 2014.
The Guardian said that the alleged abuse took place between December 2013 and June 2014 at a centre for internally displaced people in the Central African Republic capital, Bangui.
Quoting an internal UN report, it says that in one case, a nine-year-old boy and his friend were forced to carry out a sex act by two French soldiers....
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-32523294
UN aid worker suspended for leaking report on child abuse by French troops
Anders Kompass said to have passed confidential document to French authorities because of UN’s failure to stop abuse of children in Central African Republic Sandra Laville Wednesday 29 April 2015
A senior United Nations aid worker has been suspended for disclosing to prosecutors an internal report on the sexual abuse of children by French peacekeeping troops in the Central African Republic.
Sources close to the case said Anders Kompass passed the document to the French authorities because of the UN’s failure to take action to stop the abuse. The report documented the sexual exploitation of children as young as nine by French troops stationed in the country as part of international peacekeeping efforts.
Kompass, who is based in Geneva, was suspended from his post as director of field operations last week and accused of leaking a confidential UN report and breaching protocols. He is under investigation by the UN office for internal oversight service (OIOS) amid warnings from a senior official that access to his case must be “severely restricted”. He faces dismissal....
Entitled Sexual Abuse on Children by International Armed Forces and stamped “confidential” on every page, the report details the rape and sodomy of starving and homeless young boys by French peacekeeping troops who were supposed to be protecting them at a centre for internally displaced people in Bangui, capital of the Central African Republic.
Donovan said: “The regular sex abuse by peacekeeping personnel uncovered here and the United Nations’ appalling disregard for victims are stomach-turning, but the awful truth is that this isn’t uncommon. The UN’s instinctive response to sexual violence in its ranks – ignore, deny, cover up, dissemble – must be subjected to a truly independent commission of inquiry with total access, top to bottom, and full subpoena power.”
The UN has faced several scandals in the past relating to its failure to act over paedophile rings operating in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Kosovo and Bosnia. It has also faced allegations of sexual misconduct by its troops in Haiti, Burundi and Liberia....
The children described how they were sexually exploited in return for food and money. One 11-year-old boy said he was abused when he went out looking for food. A nine-year-old described being sexually abused with his friend by two French soldiers at the IDP camp when they went to a checkpoint to look for something to eat.
The child described how the soldiers forced him and his friend to carry out a sex act. The report describes how distressed the child was when disclosing the abuse and how he fled the camp in terror after the assault. Some of the children were able to give good descriptions of the soldiers involved.
In summer 2014, the report was passed to officials within the office of the high commissioner for human rights in Geneva. When nothing happened, Kompass sent the report to the French authorities and they visited Bangui and began an investigation....
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/apr/29/un-aid-worker-suspended-leaking-report-child-abuse-french-troops-car
Child abuse inquiry judge to investigate Lord Janner allegations
Lowell Goddard has asked director of public prosecutions to hand over files, will talk to Labour peer’s alleged victims and could call on him to give evidence
Josh Halliday Wednesday 29 April 2015
A high court judge is to investigate whether child sexual abuse allegations against Lord Janner were the subject of an establishment cover-up.
Justice Lowell Goddard, the chair of a major independent inquiry into child abuse ordered by the home secretary, Theresa May, will seek evidence from the Labour peer’s alleged victims and may even summon the 86-year-old to give evidence.
The New Zealand judge has also asked Britain’s top prosecutor, Alison Saunders, to hand over all the prosecution files against Janner as part of an “exhaustive and critical examination of the institutional decision-making processes” in the case. She said she would scrutinise three missed opportunities to prosecute Janner by the police or the CPS in 1991, 2002 and 2007 and “whether any inappropriate influence was brought to bear in any effort to shield Lord Janner from prosecution”.
The announcement came after Saunders, the director of public prosecutions, attracted widespread criticism earlier this month when she said there was sufficient evidence to prosecute Janner over 22 alleged sexual offences but that he would not be prosecuted because he has Alzheimer’s disease....
Janner, who has dementia, was accused of carrying out a catalogue of abuse against young boys, and more than a dozen people came forward to claim he abused them during the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s....
http://www.theguardian.com/society/2015/apr/29/child-abuse-inquiry-judge-lowell-goddard-investigate-lord-janner-allegations
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Philadelphia Grand Jury Report on Clergy Sexual Abuse
"By the Archdiocese’s own account, at least 37 priests remain in ministry despite reports that they have engaged in improper behavior with minors."
IN THE COURT OF COMMON PLEAS - FIRST JUDICIAL DISTRICT OF PENNSYLVANIA - CRIMINAL TRIAL DIVISION - IN RE: : MISC. NO. 0009901-2008 COUNTY INVESTIGATING : GRAND JURY XXIII : C-14
REPORT OF THE GRAND JURY - R. SETH WILLIAMS District Attorney of Philadelphia
REPORT TO THE HONORABLE RENÉE CALDWELL HUGHES, SUPERVISING JUDGE:
We, the Twenty-Third County Investigating Jury, were impaneled pursuant to the Investigating Grand Jury Act, 42 Pa.C.S. § 4541, et seq., and were charged to investigate the sexual abuse of minors by Archdiocesan clergy and employees. Having obtained knowledge of such matters from physical evidence presented and witnesses sworn by the Court and testifying before us, upon our respective oaths, not fewer than twelve of us concurring, we hereby submit this report to the Court.
Overview
In September 2003, a grand jury of local citizens released a report detailing a sad history of sexual abuse by priests of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.
That abuse was known, tolerated, and hidden by high church officials, up to and including the Cardinal himself. The previous grand jury was frustrated that it could not charge either the abusers or their protectors in the church, because the successful cover-up of the abuse resulted in the expiration of the statute of limitations. Now, measures taken in response to the previous report have led to new information about more recent abuse, which this grand jury was empaneled to investigate. The fact that we received that information, and from the church itself, is some sign of progress; and this time there will be charges. The present grand jury, however, is frustrated to report that much has not changed.
The rapist priests we accuse were well known to the Secretary of Clergy, but he cloaked their conduct and put them in place to do it again. The procedures implemented by the Archdiocese to help victims are in fact designed to help the abusers, and the Archdiocese itself.
Worst of all, apparent abusers – dozens of them, we believe – remain on duty in the Archdiocese, today, with open access to new young prey....
We implore Cardinal Rigali and his staff to review all of the old allegations against currently active priests, and to remove from ministry all of the priests with credible allegations against them. By the Archdiocese’s own account, at least 37 priests remain in ministry despite reports that they have engaged in improper behavior with minors. That should not be acceptable to anyone.
http://www.bishop-accountability.org/reports/2011_01_21_Philadelphia_Grand_Jury_Final_Report_Clergy_Abuse_2.pdf
IN THE COURT OF COMMON PLEAS - FIRST JUDICIAL DISTRICT OF PENNSYLVANIA - CRIMINAL TRIAL DIVISION - IN RE: : MISC. NO. 0009901-2008 COUNTY INVESTIGATING : GRAND JURY XXIII : C-14
REPORT OF THE GRAND JURY - R. SETH WILLIAMS District Attorney of Philadelphia
REPORT TO THE HONORABLE RENÉE CALDWELL HUGHES, SUPERVISING JUDGE:
We, the Twenty-Third County Investigating Jury, were impaneled pursuant to the Investigating Grand Jury Act, 42 Pa.C.S. § 4541, et seq., and were charged to investigate the sexual abuse of minors by Archdiocesan clergy and employees. Having obtained knowledge of such matters from physical evidence presented and witnesses sworn by the Court and testifying before us, upon our respective oaths, not fewer than twelve of us concurring, we hereby submit this report to the Court.
Overview
In September 2003, a grand jury of local citizens released a report detailing a sad history of sexual abuse by priests of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.
That abuse was known, tolerated, and hidden by high church officials, up to and including the Cardinal himself. The previous grand jury was frustrated that it could not charge either the abusers or their protectors in the church, because the successful cover-up of the abuse resulted in the expiration of the statute of limitations. Now, measures taken in response to the previous report have led to new information about more recent abuse, which this grand jury was empaneled to investigate. The fact that we received that information, and from the church itself, is some sign of progress; and this time there will be charges. The present grand jury, however, is frustrated to report that much has not changed.
The rapist priests we accuse were well known to the Secretary of Clergy, but he cloaked their conduct and put them in place to do it again. The procedures implemented by the Archdiocese to help victims are in fact designed to help the abusers, and the Archdiocese itself.
Worst of all, apparent abusers – dozens of them, we believe – remain on duty in the Archdiocese, today, with open access to new young prey....
We implore Cardinal Rigali and his staff to review all of the old allegations against currently active priests, and to remove from ministry all of the priests with credible allegations against them. By the Archdiocese’s own account, at least 37 priests remain in ministry despite reports that they have engaged in improper behavior with minors. That should not be acceptable to anyone.
http://www.bishop-accountability.org/reports/2011_01_21_Philadelphia_Grand_Jury_Final_Report_Clergy_Abuse_2.pdf
Sunday, December 19, 2010
Vatican allowed pedophile to remain in priesthood, report says
Vatican allowed pedophile to remain in priesthood, report says
Dublin leaders had attempted to dismiss abuser
By Shawn Pogatchnik Associated Press December 18, 2010
DUBLIN — The Vatican prevented Dublin church leaders from dismissing a particularly dangerous pedophile priest and relented only after he raped a boy in a pub restroom, an investigation reported yesterday.
Archbishop Diarmuid Martin of Dublin said he fully accepted the findings of the latest chapter in Ireland’s investigation into child abuse by Dublin priests who were shielded from the law by Catholic leaders.
Martin called Tony Walsh an “extremely devious man’’ who should never have been ordained a priest and said the report highlighted how the church had grown too powerful and arrogant in 20th-century Ireland.
A state-ordered investigation into Dublin Archdiocese coverups reported last year that Catholic officials had shielded scores of priests from criminal investigation over several decades and did not report any crimes to the police until the mid-1990s.
A chapter dealing with Walsh was censored from the original report because he was still facing a criminal trial. The Department of Justice published the chapter yesterday, following the 56-year-old Walsh’s Dec. 6 conviction for raping three boys over a five-year period three decades ago. He received a 12-year prison sentence.
The investigators concluded that Walsh raped and molested hundreds of boys and girls as a Dublin priest from 1978 to 1996, a reign of terror that church leaders never effectively stopped.
http://www.boston.com/news/world/europe/articles/2010/12/18/vatican_allowed_pedophile_to_remain_in_priesthood_report_says/
Dublin leaders had attempted to dismiss abuser
By Shawn Pogatchnik Associated Press December 18, 2010
DUBLIN — The Vatican prevented Dublin church leaders from dismissing a particularly dangerous pedophile priest and relented only after he raped a boy in a pub restroom, an investigation reported yesterday.
Archbishop Diarmuid Martin of Dublin said he fully accepted the findings of the latest chapter in Ireland’s investigation into child abuse by Dublin priests who were shielded from the law by Catholic leaders.
Martin called Tony Walsh an “extremely devious man’’ who should never have been ordained a priest and said the report highlighted how the church had grown too powerful and arrogant in 20th-century Ireland.
A state-ordered investigation into Dublin Archdiocese coverups reported last year that Catholic officials had shielded scores of priests from criminal investigation over several decades and did not report any crimes to the police until the mid-1990s.
A chapter dealing with Walsh was censored from the original report because he was still facing a criminal trial. The Department of Justice published the chapter yesterday, following the 56-year-old Walsh’s Dec. 6 conviction for raping three boys over a five-year period three decades ago. He received a 12-year prison sentence.
The investigators concluded that Walsh raped and molested hundreds of boys and girls as a Dublin priest from 1978 to 1996, a reign of terror that church leaders never effectively stopped.
http://www.boston.com/news/world/europe/articles/2010/12/18/vatican_allowed_pedophile_to_remain_in_priesthood_report_says/
Sunday, November 14, 2010
Nazis Were Given ‘Safe Haven’ in U.S., Report Says
Nazis Were Given ‘Safe Haven’ in U.S., Report Says
By ERIC LICHTBLAU Published: November 13, 2010
WASHINGTON — A secret history of the United States government’s Nazi-hunting operation concludes that American intelligence officials created a “safe haven” in the United States for Nazis and their collaborators after World War II, and it details decades of clashes, often hidden, with other nations over war criminals here and abroad.
The 600-page report, which the Justice Department has tried to keep secret for four years, provides new evidence about more than two dozen of the most notorious Nazi cases of the last three decades.
It describes the government’s posthumous pursuit of Dr. Josef Mengele, the so-called Angel of Death at Auschwitz, part of whose scalp was kept in a Justice Department official’s drawer; the vigilante killing of a former Waffen SS soldier in New Jersey; and the government’s mistaken identification of the Treblinka concentration camp guard known as Ivan the Terrible....
The full report disclosed that the Justice Department found “a smoking gun” in 1997 establishing with “definitive proof” that Switzerland had bought gold from the Nazis that had been taken from Jewish victims of the Holocaust. But these references are deleted, as are disputes between the Justice and State Departments over Switzerland’s culpability in the months leading up to a major report on the issue.
Another section describes as “a hideous failure” a series of meetings in 2000 that United States officials held with Latvian officials to pressure them to pursue suspected Nazis. That passage is also deleted.
So too are references to macabre but little-known bits of history, including how a director of the O.S.I. kept a piece of scalp that was thought to belong to Dr. Mengele in his desk in hopes that it would help establish whether he was dead.
The chapter on Dr. Mengele, one of the most notorious Nazis to escape prosecution, details the O.S.I.’s elaborate efforts in the mid-1980s to determine whether he had fled to the United States and might still be alive.
It describes how investigators used letters and diaries apparently written by Dr. Mengele in the 1970s, along with German dental records and Munich phone books, to follow his trail.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/14/us/14nazis.html
Report details U.S. role in hunting, hiding Nazis Eric Lichtblau, New York Times
November 14, 2010 A secret history of the U.S. government's Nazi-hunting operation concludes that American intelligence officials created a "safe haven" in the United States for Nazis and their collaborators after World War II, and it details decades of clashes, often hidden, with other nations over war criminals here and abroad.
The 600-page report, which the Justice Department has tried to keep secret for four years, provides new evidence about more than two dozen of the most notorious Nazi cases of the last three decades....The Justice Department report, describing what it calls "the government's collaboration with persecutors," says that OSI investigators learned that some of the Nazis "were indeed knowingly granted entry" to the United States, even though government officials were aware of their pasts....
The Justice Department has resisted making the report public since 2006. Under the threat of a lawsuit, it turned over a heavily redacted version last month to a private research group, the National Security Archive, but even then many of the most legally and diplomatically sensitive portions were omitted. A complete version was obtained by the New York Times.
The Justice Department said the report, the product of six years of work, was never formally completed and did not represent its official findings. It cited "numerous factual errors and omissions," but declined to say what they were.
More than 300 Nazi persecutors have been deported, stripped of citizenship or blocked from entering the United States since the creation of the OSI, which was merged with another unit this year.
The Justice Department itself sometimes concealed what U.S. officials knew about Nazis in this country, the report found.
In 1980, prosecutors filed a motion that "misstated the facts" in asserting that checks of CIA and FBI records revealed no information on the Nazi past of Tscherim Soobzokov, a former Waffen SS soldier. In fact, the report said, the Justice Department "knew that Soobzokov had advised the CIA of his SS connection after he arrived in the United States."
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/11/14/MNVI1GBPAN.DTL
The New York Times - Secret Justice Department Report Details How the U.S. Helped Former Nazis - An internal history of the United States government’s Nazi-hunting operation provides gripping new evidence about some of the most notorious Nazi cases of the last three decades. The Justice Department kept the 600-page report secret for the last four years, releasing a heavily redacted version last month to a private research group that sued to force its release. A complete version was obtained by The New York Times.
http://documents.nytimes.com/confidential-report-provides-new-evidence-of-notorious-nazi-cases?ref=us#p=1
By ERIC LICHTBLAU Published: November 13, 2010
WASHINGTON — A secret history of the United States government’s Nazi-hunting operation concludes that American intelligence officials created a “safe haven” in the United States for Nazis and their collaborators after World War II, and it details decades of clashes, often hidden, with other nations over war criminals here and abroad.
The 600-page report, which the Justice Department has tried to keep secret for four years, provides new evidence about more than two dozen of the most notorious Nazi cases of the last three decades.
It describes the government’s posthumous pursuit of Dr. Josef Mengele, the so-called Angel of Death at Auschwitz, part of whose scalp was kept in a Justice Department official’s drawer; the vigilante killing of a former Waffen SS soldier in New Jersey; and the government’s mistaken identification of the Treblinka concentration camp guard known as Ivan the Terrible....
The full report disclosed that the Justice Department found “a smoking gun” in 1997 establishing with “definitive proof” that Switzerland had bought gold from the Nazis that had been taken from Jewish victims of the Holocaust. But these references are deleted, as are disputes between the Justice and State Departments over Switzerland’s culpability in the months leading up to a major report on the issue.
Another section describes as “a hideous failure” a series of meetings in 2000 that United States officials held with Latvian officials to pressure them to pursue suspected Nazis. That passage is also deleted.
So too are references to macabre but little-known bits of history, including how a director of the O.S.I. kept a piece of scalp that was thought to belong to Dr. Mengele in his desk in hopes that it would help establish whether he was dead.
The chapter on Dr. Mengele, one of the most notorious Nazis to escape prosecution, details the O.S.I.’s elaborate efforts in the mid-1980s to determine whether he had fled to the United States and might still be alive.
It describes how investigators used letters and diaries apparently written by Dr. Mengele in the 1970s, along with German dental records and Munich phone books, to follow his trail.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/14/us/14nazis.html
Report details U.S. role in hunting, hiding Nazis Eric Lichtblau, New York Times
November 14, 2010 A secret history of the U.S. government's Nazi-hunting operation concludes that American intelligence officials created a "safe haven" in the United States for Nazis and their collaborators after World War II, and it details decades of clashes, often hidden, with other nations over war criminals here and abroad.
The 600-page report, which the Justice Department has tried to keep secret for four years, provides new evidence about more than two dozen of the most notorious Nazi cases of the last three decades....The Justice Department report, describing what it calls "the government's collaboration with persecutors," says that OSI investigators learned that some of the Nazis "were indeed knowingly granted entry" to the United States, even though government officials were aware of their pasts....
The Justice Department has resisted making the report public since 2006. Under the threat of a lawsuit, it turned over a heavily redacted version last month to a private research group, the National Security Archive, but even then many of the most legally and diplomatically sensitive portions were omitted. A complete version was obtained by the New York Times.
The Justice Department said the report, the product of six years of work, was never formally completed and did not represent its official findings. It cited "numerous factual errors and omissions," but declined to say what they were.
More than 300 Nazi persecutors have been deported, stripped of citizenship or blocked from entering the United States since the creation of the OSI, which was merged with another unit this year.
The Justice Department itself sometimes concealed what U.S. officials knew about Nazis in this country, the report found.
In 1980, prosecutors filed a motion that "misstated the facts" in asserting that checks of CIA and FBI records revealed no information on the Nazi past of Tscherim Soobzokov, a former Waffen SS soldier. In fact, the report said, the Justice Department "knew that Soobzokov had advised the CIA of his SS connection after he arrived in the United States."
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/11/14/MNVI1GBPAN.DTL
The New York Times - Secret Justice Department Report Details How the U.S. Helped Former Nazis - An internal history of the United States government’s Nazi-hunting operation provides gripping new evidence about some of the most notorious Nazi cases of the last three decades. The Justice Department kept the 600-page report secret for the last four years, releasing a heavily redacted version last month to a private research group that sued to force its release. A complete version was obtained by The New York Times.
http://documents.nytimes.com/confidential-report-provides-new-evidence-of-notorious-nazi-cases?ref=us#p=1
Friday, September 10, 2010
Pope faces protests on visit to Britain, Belgian Catholic clergy abuse report
Shanley clergy abuse recovered memory case
http://ritualabuse.us/research/memory-fms/shanley-recovered-memory-case/
Pope faces protests and apathy on visit to Britain - Survey reveals that 77% of people questioned felt taxpayer should not contribute to cost of pontiff's trip - Sam Jones, Riazat Butt, Stephen Bates and Kaamil Ahmed 10 September 2010 When Benedict XVI lands at Edinburgh airport on Thursday, he is unlikely to get the rapturous reception that greeted John Paul II on his visit to Britain in 1982.
Over the coming days, the pope will be faced with protesters demanding action on clerical sexual abuse of children and voicing anger at the £20m cost of the state visit, and must also contend with public apathy.
A recent survey revealed 77% of people questioned felt the taxpayer should not contribute to the cost of the visit, with 79% saying they had "no personal interest" in the pontifical trip.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/sep/10/pope-faces-protests-british-visits
Church abuse in Belgium detailed by Adriaenssens report Harrowing details of alleged sexual abuse of minors by Roman Catholic clergy in Belgium have been released by an official Church investigator.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-11260290
Belgian child abuse report exposes Catholic clergy - Paedophilia expert unveils harrowing testimony and documents cases in almost every diocese Ian Traynor in Brussels guardian.co.uk, Friday 10 September 2010 Some of the most damning evidence of systematic child abuse by the Roman Catholic clergy to come to light was unveiled today by Belgium's leading authority on paedophilia, who published hundreds of pages of harrowing victim testimony detailing their traumas and suffering.
The explosive report by Peter Adriaenssens in the town of Louvain, east of Brussels, lists evidence of 476 instances of child abuse by priests and bishops going back 50 years.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/sep/10/belgium-child-abuse-catholic-church
describes abuse
Priest sex abuse linked to 13 suicides in Belgium Virginia Mayo / AP File Friday, Sept. 10, 2010 BRUSSELS — Hundreds of sex abuse victims have come forward in Belgium with harrowing accounts of molestation by Catholic clergy that reportedly led to at least 13 suicides and affected children as young as two, a special commission said Friday....Adriaenssens, a child psychiatrist who has worked with trauma victims for 23 years, said nothing had prepared him for the stories of abuse that blighted the lives of victims.
"We don't just talk about touching. We are talking about oral and anal abuse, forced masturbation and mutual masturbation. We talk about people who have gone through serious abuse," Adriaenssens said. Most of the abuse happened during the 1960s and 1970s, he said.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39093978
http://ritualabuse.us/research/memory-fms/shanley-recovered-memory-case/
Pope faces protests and apathy on visit to Britain - Survey reveals that 77% of people questioned felt taxpayer should not contribute to cost of pontiff's trip - Sam Jones, Riazat Butt, Stephen Bates and Kaamil Ahmed 10 September 2010 When Benedict XVI lands at Edinburgh airport on Thursday, he is unlikely to get the rapturous reception that greeted John Paul II on his visit to Britain in 1982.
Over the coming days, the pope will be faced with protesters demanding action on clerical sexual abuse of children and voicing anger at the £20m cost of the state visit, and must also contend with public apathy.
A recent survey revealed 77% of people questioned felt the taxpayer should not contribute to the cost of the visit, with 79% saying they had "no personal interest" in the pontifical trip.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/sep/10/pope-faces-protests-british-visits
Church abuse in Belgium detailed by Adriaenssens report Harrowing details of alleged sexual abuse of minors by Roman Catholic clergy in Belgium have been released by an official Church investigator.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-11260290
Belgian child abuse report exposes Catholic clergy - Paedophilia expert unveils harrowing testimony and documents cases in almost every diocese Ian Traynor in Brussels guardian.co.uk, Friday 10 September 2010 Some of the most damning evidence of systematic child abuse by the Roman Catholic clergy to come to light was unveiled today by Belgium's leading authority on paedophilia, who published hundreds of pages of harrowing victim testimony detailing their traumas and suffering.
The explosive report by Peter Adriaenssens in the town of Louvain, east of Brussels, lists evidence of 476 instances of child abuse by priests and bishops going back 50 years.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/sep/10/belgium-child-abuse-catholic-church
describes abuse
Priest sex abuse linked to 13 suicides in Belgium Virginia Mayo / AP File Friday, Sept. 10, 2010 BRUSSELS — Hundreds of sex abuse victims have come forward in Belgium with harrowing accounts of molestation by Catholic clergy that reportedly led to at least 13 suicides and affected children as young as two, a special commission said Friday....Adriaenssens, a child psychiatrist who has worked with trauma victims for 23 years, said nothing had prepared him for the stories of abuse that blighted the lives of victims.
"We don't just talk about touching. We are talking about oral and anal abuse, forced masturbation and mutual masturbation. We talk about people who have gone through serious abuse," Adriaenssens said. Most of the abuse happened during the 1960s and 1970s, he said.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39093978
Monday, August 2, 2010
DOJ report says child porn on the rise, hearing for FLDS sect leader Warren Jeffs
DOJ report says child porn on the rise (AP) – 8/2/10 WASHINGTON — The spread of child pornography, fueled by technology and the Internet, is outpacing efforts to combat it, the Justice Department said Monday in a report to Congress that promises more arrests, prosecutions and better coordination among federal, state and local authorities. Attorney General Eric Holder said the distribution of child pornography, the number of images being shared online and violence against child victims all have increased. "Tragically, the only place we've seen a decrease is in the age of victims," Holder said in a speech at the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children in Alexandria, Va.
The report, ordered by Congress in legislation approved two years ago, concedes that the market for child pornography continues to grow rapidly and determining its size is impossible. "The number of offenders accessing the images and videos and the quantity of images and videos being traded is unknown," the report said....The increased attention to fighting child pornography already has led to record numbers of prosecutions and tips. More than 8,600 people have been prosecuted at the federal level since October 2006. State and local authorities focused on the use of the Internet in child sexual exploitation reported that documented complaints of online enticement of children more than tripled from 2004 to 2008 and complaints of child prostitution rose more than 10 times.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5ikJwimhJLziWOIbrB1d8IYltbW-gD9HBH0FG0
Utah judge orders Aug. 18 hearing for FLDS sect leader Warren Jeffs July 28, 2010 SALT LAKE CITY - A Southern Utah judge has set an Aug. 18 date for a hearing on a request that polygamous sect leader Warren Jeffs be granted a speedy trial. Jeffs was charged in 5th District Court in 2006 with two counts of felony rape as an accomplice. A jury convicted him of both counts the following year. But the Utah Supreme Court reversed the convictions Tuesday and sent the case back for a new trial. Within hours, Jeffs' defense attorneys, Wally Bugden and Tara Isaacson, filed a motion seeking a "speedy trial before a jury of his peers." Court papers also say Jeffs "has been incarcerated for many months."
At a news conference Tuesday, Bugden said he planned to seek bail for Jeffs, 54, the ecclesiastical head of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. The Southern Utah-based church practices polygamy in marriages arranged by FLDS Church leaders. On Wednesday, Judge James Shumate, who presided over the 2007 trial, ordered a hearing on a retrial. Deputy Washington County Attorney Brian Filter has said officials haven't decided how they'll proceed in the case. Prosecutors first plan to meet with the victim and law enforcement and conduct a legal analysis of the high court's ruling, Filter said. http://www.standard.net/topics/courts/2010/07/28/utah-judge-orders-aug-18-hearing-flds-sect-leader-warren-jeffs
The report, ordered by Congress in legislation approved two years ago, concedes that the market for child pornography continues to grow rapidly and determining its size is impossible. "The number of offenders accessing the images and videos and the quantity of images and videos being traded is unknown," the report said....The increased attention to fighting child pornography already has led to record numbers of prosecutions and tips. More than 8,600 people have been prosecuted at the federal level since October 2006. State and local authorities focused on the use of the Internet in child sexual exploitation reported that documented complaints of online enticement of children more than tripled from 2004 to 2008 and complaints of child prostitution rose more than 10 times.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5ikJwimhJLziWOIbrB1d8IYltbW-gD9HBH0FG0
Utah judge orders Aug. 18 hearing for FLDS sect leader Warren Jeffs July 28, 2010 SALT LAKE CITY - A Southern Utah judge has set an Aug. 18 date for a hearing on a request that polygamous sect leader Warren Jeffs be granted a speedy trial. Jeffs was charged in 5th District Court in 2006 with two counts of felony rape as an accomplice. A jury convicted him of both counts the following year. But the Utah Supreme Court reversed the convictions Tuesday and sent the case back for a new trial. Within hours, Jeffs' defense attorneys, Wally Bugden and Tara Isaacson, filed a motion seeking a "speedy trial before a jury of his peers." Court papers also say Jeffs "has been incarcerated for many months."
At a news conference Tuesday, Bugden said he planned to seek bail for Jeffs, 54, the ecclesiastical head of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. The Southern Utah-based church practices polygamy in marriages arranged by FLDS Church leaders. On Wednesday, Judge James Shumate, who presided over the 2007 trial, ordered a hearing on a retrial. Deputy Washington County Attorney Brian Filter has said officials haven't decided how they'll proceed in the case. Prosecutors first plan to meet with the victim and law enforcement and conduct a legal analysis of the high court's ruling, Filter said. http://www.standard.net/topics/courts/2010/07/28/utah-judge-orders-aug-18-hearing-flds-sect-leader-warren-jeffs
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Sex Slavery children, Church cover-ups, Vatican report and rules
Seduction, Slavery and Sex By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF July 14, 2010
“The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo” series tops the best-seller lists. More than 150 years ago, “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” helped lay the groundwork for the end of slavery. Let’s hope that these novels help build pressure on trafficking as a modern echo of slavery....Because trafficking gets ignored, it rarely is a top priority for law enforcement officials — so it seems to be growing. Various reports and studies, none of them particularly reliable, suggest that between 100,000 and 600,000 children may be involved in prostitution in the United States, with the numbers increasing. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/15/opinion/15kristof.html
Predatory Priests, Church Cover-Ups and the Belgian Abberation July 14, 2010
By Barbara Blaine and Rita Nakashima Brock
The clergy sex abuse and cover-up crisis continue not only across Europe but also across the globe. Nowhere, however, has the recent crisis been more acute than in Belgium. Over the span of just a few weeks, the New York Times reported on Tuesday, July 13, a bishop has resigned, police have conducted an unusual raid on three church facilities to collect evidence, and hundreds of men and women have stepped forward reporting the horrors they say they experienced as children at the hands of Belgian clerics.
A painfully familiar, almost formulaic pattern of criminal behavior has emerged in the many stories of sexual abuse by priests this past year. It's the same appalling pattern Americans have seen in case after case in the U.S. And it suggests that, whether through quiet Vatican fiat or a stunningly homogenous and twisted clerical culture, Catholic officials over decades and across national boundaries have engaged in the same destructive (and self destructive) behaviors when it comes to predator priests.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rita-nakashima-brock-ph-d/predatory-priests-church_b_646398.html
UN panel says Vatican's report on protecting children's rights is almost 13 years overdue
FRANK JORDANS AP Press Writer July 15, 2010 GENEVA (AP) — The Vatican has failed to send the United Nations a report on child rights that is now almost 13 years overdue, the head of a U.N. panel has told The Associated Press. Like all countries that have signed the 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Vatican is required to submit regular reports on its efforts to safeguard child rights. But the U.N. Committee on the Rights of the Child, despite sending repeated reminders, has received no explanation from the Holy See for why it missed a 1997 deadline, according to the committee's chairwoman Yanghee Lee. In the years since, the Vatican has come under intense scrutiny over its handling of child sex abuse allegations around the world and recently admitted that up to one in 20 priests may be implicated....While the Vatican delivered an initial report in 1995, the second, third and fourth reports are now overdue, according to Lee. http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/nation-world/sns-ap-un-un-vatican,0,3457711.story
Vatican revises its rules on clerical sex abuse, but critics see few substantive changes
NICOLE WINFIELD AP Writer July 15, 2010 VATICAN CITY (AP) — The Vatican revised its in-house rules to deal with clerical sex abuse cases Thursday, targeting priests who molest the mentally disabled as well as children and doubling the statute of limitations for such crimes. Abuse victims said the rules are little more than administrative housekeeping since they made few substantive changes to current practice, and what is needed are bold new rules to punish bishops who shield pedophiles....The new rules extend the statute of limitations for handling of priestly abuse cases from 10 years to 20 years after the victim's 18th birthday, and the statute of limitations can be extended beyond that on a case-by-case basis. Such extensions have been routine for years but now the waivers are codified. But the new rules make no mention of the need for bishops to report clerical sex abuse to police, provide no canonical sanctions for bishops who cover up for abusers, and do not include any "zero tolerance" policy for pedophile priests as demanded by some victims.
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/nation-world/sns-ap-eu-vatican-church-abuse,0,6196498.story
“The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo” series tops the best-seller lists. More than 150 years ago, “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” helped lay the groundwork for the end of slavery. Let’s hope that these novels help build pressure on trafficking as a modern echo of slavery....Because trafficking gets ignored, it rarely is a top priority for law enforcement officials — so it seems to be growing. Various reports and studies, none of them particularly reliable, suggest that between 100,000 and 600,000 children may be involved in prostitution in the United States, with the numbers increasing. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/15/opinion/15kristof.html
Predatory Priests, Church Cover-Ups and the Belgian Abberation July 14, 2010
By Barbara Blaine and Rita Nakashima Brock
The clergy sex abuse and cover-up crisis continue not only across Europe but also across the globe. Nowhere, however, has the recent crisis been more acute than in Belgium. Over the span of just a few weeks, the New York Times reported on Tuesday, July 13, a bishop has resigned, police have conducted an unusual raid on three church facilities to collect evidence, and hundreds of men and women have stepped forward reporting the horrors they say they experienced as children at the hands of Belgian clerics.
A painfully familiar, almost formulaic pattern of criminal behavior has emerged in the many stories of sexual abuse by priests this past year. It's the same appalling pattern Americans have seen in case after case in the U.S. And it suggests that, whether through quiet Vatican fiat or a stunningly homogenous and twisted clerical culture, Catholic officials over decades and across national boundaries have engaged in the same destructive (and self destructive) behaviors when it comes to predator priests.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rita-nakashima-brock-ph-d/predatory-priests-church_b_646398.html
UN panel says Vatican's report on protecting children's rights is almost 13 years overdue
FRANK JORDANS AP Press Writer July 15, 2010 GENEVA (AP) — The Vatican has failed to send the United Nations a report on child rights that is now almost 13 years overdue, the head of a U.N. panel has told The Associated Press. Like all countries that have signed the 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Vatican is required to submit regular reports on its efforts to safeguard child rights. But the U.N. Committee on the Rights of the Child, despite sending repeated reminders, has received no explanation from the Holy See for why it missed a 1997 deadline, according to the committee's chairwoman Yanghee Lee. In the years since, the Vatican has come under intense scrutiny over its handling of child sex abuse allegations around the world and recently admitted that up to one in 20 priests may be implicated....While the Vatican delivered an initial report in 1995, the second, third and fourth reports are now overdue, according to Lee. http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/nation-world/sns-ap-un-un-vatican,0,3457711.story
Vatican revises its rules on clerical sex abuse, but critics see few substantive changes
NICOLE WINFIELD AP Writer July 15, 2010 VATICAN CITY (AP) — The Vatican revised its in-house rules to deal with clerical sex abuse cases Thursday, targeting priests who molest the mentally disabled as well as children and doubling the statute of limitations for such crimes. Abuse victims said the rules are little more than administrative housekeeping since they made few substantive changes to current practice, and what is needed are bold new rules to punish bishops who shield pedophiles....The new rules extend the statute of limitations for handling of priestly abuse cases from 10 years to 20 years after the victim's 18th birthday, and the statute of limitations can be extended beyond that on a case-by-case basis. Such extensions have been routine for years but now the waivers are codified. But the new rules make no mention of the need for bishops to report clerical sex abuse to police, provide no canonical sanctions for bishops who cover up for abusers, and do not include any "zero tolerance" policy for pedophile priests as demanded by some victims.
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/nation-world/sns-ap-eu-vatican-church-abuse,0,6196498.story
Monday, March 8, 2010
Catholic Scandal choirboys - Germany, Don't Free the West Memphis Three
describes graphic crimes
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Catholic Scandal Spreads - Former Regensburg Choirboys Talk of 'Naked Beatings' 03/08/2010
Former choirboys of the Regensburger Domspatzen have told SPIEGEL about sexual and physical abuse at two boarding schools attached to the famous Catholic choir. One former choirboy says it's "inexplicable" that the Pope's brother Georg Ratzinger, a former head of the choir, didn't know about it. The abuse scandal at the Regensburger Domspatzen choir is bigger than had been thought so far. Therapists in and around Munich treated several former choirboys who were traumatized by sexual and other physical abuse.
One man affected told SPIEGEL about cruel rituals in the Etterzhausen boarding school, a preparatory school for younger pupils from which the choir draws its recruits. He said that at the end of the 1950s the headmaster of the school, a Catholic priest, had dealt out hard physical punishments. He had often practiced what was called "naked beatings" in his private rooms, where boys aged eight or nine had to undress and were beaten by hand. In some cases, the victim said, penetration took place.
'Sexual Lust' The director and composer Franz Wittenbrink, who lived in the Regensburg boarding school of the choir until 1967, said the school had an "elaborate system of sadistic punishments combined with sexual lust." He said the headmaster at the time "would choose two or three of us boys in the dormitories in the evenings and take them to his flat." He said there had been red wine, and that the priest had masturbated with the pupils. "Everyone knew about it," said Wittenbrink. "I find it inexplicable that the Pope's brother Georg Ratzinger, who had been cathedral bandmaster since 1964, apparently knew nothing about it." http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,682344,00.html
Women In Crime Ink - Don't Free the West Memphis Three 3/8/10
all accusations are alleged
Jessie Misskelley, 17, (right) confessed to the crime in detail. Three times. He had a temper and got in fights. He had a record for shoplifting and vandalism. He was a bit slow and a follower.
Jason Baldwin, 16, had a record for vandalism and shoplifting. He was Damien's best friend.
Damien Echols, 18, had a history of psychological problems for which he had been institutionalized. He is reported to have stomped a dog to death, attacked patients in the mental hospital sucking blood out of their wounds, starting fires at school, threatened to kill his teachers and parents, claimed he was a supernatural being, said he liked to drink blood because it gave him special power, and read Anton LeVay's Satanic Bible. Damien exhibits psychopathic behaviors. He bragged about committing the crime. Circumstantial evidence supported the involvement of the teens in the crime. The three had no alibis.
http://womenincrimeink.blogspot.com/2010/03/dont-free-west-memphis-three.html
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Catholic Scandal Spreads - Former Regensburg Choirboys Talk of 'Naked Beatings' 03/08/2010
Former choirboys of the Regensburger Domspatzen have told SPIEGEL about sexual and physical abuse at two boarding schools attached to the famous Catholic choir. One former choirboy says it's "inexplicable" that the Pope's brother Georg Ratzinger, a former head of the choir, didn't know about it. The abuse scandal at the Regensburger Domspatzen choir is bigger than had been thought so far. Therapists in and around Munich treated several former choirboys who were traumatized by sexual and other physical abuse.
One man affected told SPIEGEL about cruel rituals in the Etterzhausen boarding school, a preparatory school for younger pupils from which the choir draws its recruits. He said that at the end of the 1950s the headmaster of the school, a Catholic priest, had dealt out hard physical punishments. He had often practiced what was called "naked beatings" in his private rooms, where boys aged eight or nine had to undress and were beaten by hand. In some cases, the victim said, penetration took place.
'Sexual Lust' The director and composer Franz Wittenbrink, who lived in the Regensburg boarding school of the choir until 1967, said the school had an "elaborate system of sadistic punishments combined with sexual lust." He said the headmaster at the time "would choose two or three of us boys in the dormitories in the evenings and take them to his flat." He said there had been red wine, and that the priest had masturbated with the pupils. "Everyone knew about it," said Wittenbrink. "I find it inexplicable that the Pope's brother Georg Ratzinger, who had been cathedral bandmaster since 1964, apparently knew nothing about it." http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,682344,00.html
Women In Crime Ink - Don't Free the West Memphis Three 3/8/10
all accusations are alleged
Jessie Misskelley, 17, (right) confessed to the crime in detail. Three times. He had a temper and got in fights. He had a record for shoplifting and vandalism. He was a bit slow and a follower.
Jason Baldwin, 16, had a record for vandalism and shoplifting. He was Damien's best friend.
Damien Echols, 18, had a history of psychological problems for which he had been institutionalized. He is reported to have stomped a dog to death, attacked patients in the mental hospital sucking blood out of their wounds, starting fires at school, threatened to kill his teachers and parents, claimed he was a supernatural being, said he liked to drink blood because it gave him special power, and read Anton LeVay's Satanic Bible. Damien exhibits psychopathic behaviors. He bragged about committing the crime. Circumstantial evidence supported the involvement of the teens in the crime. The three had no alibis.
http://womenincrimeink.blogspot.com/2010/03/dont-free-west-memphis-three.html
WHISTLE BLOWER CHILDREN: What Happens When Children Report Sex Abuse
WHISTLE BLOWER CHILDREN:
What Happens When Children Report Sex Abuse
This conference is presented as as part of the National Child Abuse Prevention and Sexual Assault Awareness month activities throughout California.
On Friday April 9, 2010 from 10:00 am to 4:30 pm, a Film Festival will be held at the Sierra Health Foundation, 1321 Garden Hwy, Sacramento, CA 95833.
No registration. Seating is limited. $35 fee is payable at the door. The event is no-cost for abuse survivors. (No CEUs)
Effects of Adverse Childhood Experiences - A Cavalcade documentary on the seminal health outcome study of over 17,000 Kaiser Permanente patients by Dr. Vincent Felitti of Kaiser Permanente, San Diego and Dr. Rob Anda of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Ellery Akers, writer, artist and author, will discuss her award-winning children's book Sarah's Waterfall.Dr. Jaime Romo, educator, consultant and author, will discuss his book Healing the Sexually Abused Heart: A Workbook for Survivors, Thrivers and Supporters.
Family Court Crisis: Our Children At Risk - An award-winning documentary of the civil war against children who report incest in the context of custody and visitation. Film producer Kathleen Russell will discuss remedies for the lack of protection of children by family courts.
Pray the Devil Back to Hell - A documentary of the remarkable story of Liberian women who came together to end a civil war.
On Saturday, April 10, 2010 from 9:30 am - 4:30 pm, Robin Sax will present the keynote address at the Davis Senior Center, 646 A Street, Davis, CA 95616.
No registration. This event is a no-cost public service event. (NOTE: different address from prior conferences)
Connie ValentineRobin Sax is a former Los Angeles prosecutor who specialized in prosecuting child sex abuse cases. She is a commentator for several national television shows, partner in the Justice Interrupted radio show, and author of six books.
The Yolo County District Attorney Panel will describe how child sex abuse cases are handled in a model criminal court. This panel will demonstrate excellence in prosecuting child sex abuse.
A California Town Hall Meeting will provide a forum for testimony by non-abusive parents and their adult children who will describe how child sex abuse cases are handled in many family courts. Ideas for remedies will be discussed by panel members.
CA Protective Parents Association
For more information, email cppa001@aol.com
Monday, August 31, 2009
Rebuttal to the second article report from the SMART 2009 conference
The author continues his attack on child abuse survivors and his name calling and insults on the conference attendees in Part 2.
He insults one of our older conference presenters, stating she is "infirm."
He attacks the book "Michelle Remembers" with an article now posted on the "Temple of Set" website.
What he fails to mention is that the book's accuracy was verified by the publisher, see http://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/articles/day-care-and-child-abuse-cases/
A NOTE FROM THE PUBLISHER: "The source material was scrutinized. The many thousands of pages of transcript of the tape recordings that Dr. Pazder and Michelle Smith made of their psychiatric sessions were read and digested; they became the basis of this book. The tapes themselves were listened to in good measure, and the videotapes made of some of his sessions were viewed. Both the audio and video are powerfully convincing. It is nearly unthinkable that the protracted agony they record could have been fabricated.”
He also attacks the book "Sybil." Yet, Sybil’s psychiatrist, Cornelia Wilbur, went to great lengths to validate the accounts of abuse…. The case firmly linked multiple personality disorder with child abuse. And Dr. Leah Dickstein of the University of Louisville in Kentucky, who said she was in touch with Sybil for several years after Wilbur's death, recalls Sybil telling her, "tell people every word in the book is true."' Dickstein, who knew Wilbur, said Wilbur "had no need to make this up."
The author of the attack on our conference attacks Bennett Braun in the Burgus case.
Here’s a summary of the research on Burgus v. Braun et al that was presented by a researcher at the 2002 International Society for the Study of Dissociation conference in Baltimore….In 1993 the Burgus family filed a malpractice lawsuit against Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke’s Medical Center, Dr. Elva Poznanski, the boys” psychiatrist, and Dr. Bennett Braun, Pat’s psychiatrist…Before her hospitalization at Rush in 1983, Pat spent most days in bed in with the curtains drawn, unable to care for herself. She threatened to kill herself and others. Her husband came home for lunch to make sure the boys were fed. She became convinced that the doctor who did her tubal ligation had implanted a fetus during the surgery. She approached mothers of infant daughters, asking them if they would trade their daughter for her infant son, Mikey. Pat entered Rush diagnosed with multiple personality disorder and borderline personality disorder. Upon admission Pat was agitated and incoherent. During her first month on the unit and before she was placed on meds, Pat told staff “I’m switching [personalities] out of control today. I’m doing so much switching today I can’t believe it.” Pat testified that the rapid switching decreased over time as her medications were increased….Other patients said they recognized her from her participation in cult-related criminal activities. At the time of her release from Rush in 1987 Pat was more stable and integrated. Did Pat’s psychiatrist implant false memories as Pat has claimed? On January 17, 1997, a defense attorney asked Pat about the source of her memories. Pat repeatedly conceded that she had originated all the memories herself. Her psychiatrist did not implant any memories. He had simply passed on to her what the other patients had reported.”
Candidate accused by former patient by Thomas R. O’Donnell – Des Moines Register – 10/28/98 – “A former Iowan who won a $10.6 million settlement from a Chicago hospital and two psychiatrists said the diagnosis of multiple personalities and repressed memories of satanic cults that led to her lawsuit originated with a West Des Moines clinical social worker. But the social worker, Ann-Marie Baughman, now a Polk County legislative candidate, said that when she started counseling Patricia Burgus in 1982, Burgus was a troubled woman who was threatening to kill herself and others. Burgus…also was displaying behavior that Baughman could not understand. “It was the physical changes more than just the verbal expressions of what she was telling me” that led Baughman to conclude she was seeing multiple personalities. The “muscles in her face would all relax . . . and she would just look different. It was just the eeriest thing….But suggestions that Braun somehow planted the horrific memories in Burgus’ head are wrong, Baughman said, because they started surfacing during her sessions with Burgus in Des Moines….In the settlement, reached last fall after six years of litigation, neither the hospital nor the psychiatrists, Braun and Elva Poznanski, admitted fault. Braun has said his insurance company settled over his objections.”
It appears that Burgus' symptoms appeared before her work with Braun, something the attacking author appears to ignore.
The attacking author states he only found one mention of the Amirault case on our website http://ritualabuse.us
He obviously did not look very hard.
"All nine children testified in a broadly consistent way…The children testified to numerous instances of sexual abuse. Some of the children testified that they were photographed during this abuse, describing a big camera with wires, a red button, and pictures which came out of the camera. The children testified that the defendant threatened them and told them that their families would be harmed if they told anyone about the abuse….The Commonwealth also presented a pediatric gynecologist and pediatrician who examined five of the girls who testified…She made findings consistent with abuse in four of the girls.”
Additional information on the Amirault case is at our website at http://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/articles/day-care-and-child-abuse-cases/
"in Amirault, the majority of the female children who testified had some relevant physical findings, as did several female children involved in the investigation who did not participate in the trial. The findings included labial adhesions and hymenal scarring of the sort present in a very small percentage of non-sexually abused children."
"Victims in the Fells Acres child abuse case broke down Thursday as they described their pain publicly for the first time in hopes of keeping the last person convicted in the case behind bars. Victims urged her to keep Amirault in prison."
"This family raped me, molested me and totally ruined my life,’’said Jennifer Bennett, who was 3 1/2 years old when she started at Fells Acres. “We weren’t coaxed. We weren’t lying. We’re telling the truth and we always will.”
The attacking author states "sexually repressed housewives may place themselves in the midst of deviant orgies in which they had no choice but to participate." This incredible statement shows the author's thinking clearly.
The attacking author even criticizes the story of one speaker that has signed confessions of Satanic Ritual Abuse from her mother and stepfather.
The attacking author states the conference is "full of bullshit." He even criticizes the well established diagnosis of Dissociative Identity Disorder, citing Paul McHugh.
Information on Paul McHugh is at http://ritualabuse.us/research/memory-fms/paul-mchugh/
"The problem with McHugh’s publications on MPD/DID, like those of Mersky, is that they are mere speculation. From deposition testimony in several cases, McHugh has made it clear that other than an occasional consultation, he has very little actual clinical experience with the ongoing treatment of MPD/DID patients and is generally unfamiliar with both the clinical features of MPD/DID and with what usually occurs in their treatment. This McHugh’s opinion is informed neither by actual in-depth clinical experience with contemporary MPD/DID patients nor by any scientific research on MPD."
"At least eight men have been convicted of sexually abusing Maryland children while under treatment at the “sex disorders” clinic McHugh runs at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine – abuse the doctors did not report, citing client confidentiality."
The attacking author writes "As Brick wrote in an angry comment upon my first half of this article, “who are you to decide what people remember?” Yet, Brick did not say any such thing. This is more inaccurate writing from the attacking author.
The attacking author writes "Disassociative Disorders” and "Disassociative Identity Disorder" yet they are actually called "Dissociative Disorders" and "Dissociative Identity Disorder."
But if the author had any experience in the field, he would know this.
The attacking author's continued one-sided attack on our conference is inaccurate, insulting and simply untrue.
He insults one of our older conference presenters, stating she is "infirm."
He attacks the book "Michelle Remembers" with an article now posted on the "Temple of Set" website.
What he fails to mention is that the book's accuracy was verified by the publisher, see http://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/articles/day-care-and-child-abuse-cases/
A NOTE FROM THE PUBLISHER: "The source material was scrutinized. The many thousands of pages of transcript of the tape recordings that Dr. Pazder and Michelle Smith made of their psychiatric sessions were read and digested; they became the basis of this book. The tapes themselves were listened to in good measure, and the videotapes made of some of his sessions were viewed. Both the audio and video are powerfully convincing. It is nearly unthinkable that the protracted agony they record could have been fabricated.”
He also attacks the book "Sybil." Yet, Sybil’s psychiatrist, Cornelia Wilbur, went to great lengths to validate the accounts of abuse…. The case firmly linked multiple personality disorder with child abuse. And Dr. Leah Dickstein of the University of Louisville in Kentucky, who said she was in touch with Sybil for several years after Wilbur's death, recalls Sybil telling her, "tell people every word in the book is true."' Dickstein, who knew Wilbur, said Wilbur "had no need to make this up."
The author of the attack on our conference attacks Bennett Braun in the Burgus case.
Here’s a summary of the research on Burgus v. Braun et al that was presented by a researcher at the 2002 International Society for the Study of Dissociation conference in Baltimore….In 1993 the Burgus family filed a malpractice lawsuit against Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke’s Medical Center, Dr. Elva Poznanski, the boys” psychiatrist, and Dr. Bennett Braun, Pat’s psychiatrist…Before her hospitalization at Rush in 1983, Pat spent most days in bed in with the curtains drawn, unable to care for herself. She threatened to kill herself and others. Her husband came home for lunch to make sure the boys were fed. She became convinced that the doctor who did her tubal ligation had implanted a fetus during the surgery. She approached mothers of infant daughters, asking them if they would trade their daughter for her infant son, Mikey. Pat entered Rush diagnosed with multiple personality disorder and borderline personality disorder. Upon admission Pat was agitated and incoherent. During her first month on the unit and before she was placed on meds, Pat told staff “I’m switching [personalities] out of control today. I’m doing so much switching today I can’t believe it.” Pat testified that the rapid switching decreased over time as her medications were increased….Other patients said they recognized her from her participation in cult-related criminal activities. At the time of her release from Rush in 1987 Pat was more stable and integrated. Did Pat’s psychiatrist implant false memories as Pat has claimed? On January 17, 1997, a defense attorney asked Pat about the source of her memories. Pat repeatedly conceded that she had originated all the memories herself. Her psychiatrist did not implant any memories. He had simply passed on to her what the other patients had reported.”
Candidate accused by former patient by Thomas R. O’Donnell – Des Moines Register – 10/28/98 – “A former Iowan who won a $10.6 million settlement from a Chicago hospital and two psychiatrists said the diagnosis of multiple personalities and repressed memories of satanic cults that led to her lawsuit originated with a West Des Moines clinical social worker. But the social worker, Ann-Marie Baughman, now a Polk County legislative candidate, said that when she started counseling Patricia Burgus in 1982, Burgus was a troubled woman who was threatening to kill herself and others. Burgus…also was displaying behavior that Baughman could not understand. “It was the physical changes more than just the verbal expressions of what she was telling me” that led Baughman to conclude she was seeing multiple personalities. The “muscles in her face would all relax . . . and she would just look different. It was just the eeriest thing….But suggestions that Braun somehow planted the horrific memories in Burgus’ head are wrong, Baughman said, because they started surfacing during her sessions with Burgus in Des Moines….In the settlement, reached last fall after six years of litigation, neither the hospital nor the psychiatrists, Braun and Elva Poznanski, admitted fault. Braun has said his insurance company settled over his objections.”
It appears that Burgus' symptoms appeared before her work with Braun, something the attacking author appears to ignore.
The attacking author states he only found one mention of the Amirault case on our website http://ritualabuse.us
He obviously did not look very hard.
"All nine children testified in a broadly consistent way…The children testified to numerous instances of sexual abuse. Some of the children testified that they were photographed during this abuse, describing a big camera with wires, a red button, and pictures which came out of the camera. The children testified that the defendant threatened them and told them that their families would be harmed if they told anyone about the abuse….The Commonwealth also presented a pediatric gynecologist and pediatrician who examined five of the girls who testified…She made findings consistent with abuse in four of the girls.”
Additional information on the Amirault case is at our website at http://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/articles/day-care-and-child-abuse-cases/
"in Amirault, the majority of the female children who testified had some relevant physical findings, as did several female children involved in the investigation who did not participate in the trial. The findings included labial adhesions and hymenal scarring of the sort present in a very small percentage of non-sexually abused children."
"Victims in the Fells Acres child abuse case broke down Thursday as they described their pain publicly for the first time in hopes of keeping the last person convicted in the case behind bars. Victims urged her to keep Amirault in prison."
"This family raped me, molested me and totally ruined my life,’’said Jennifer Bennett, who was 3 1/2 years old when she started at Fells Acres. “We weren’t coaxed. We weren’t lying. We’re telling the truth and we always will.”
The attacking author states "sexually repressed housewives may place themselves in the midst of deviant orgies in which they had no choice but to participate." This incredible statement shows the author's thinking clearly.
The attacking author even criticizes the story of one speaker that has signed confessions of Satanic Ritual Abuse from her mother and stepfather.
The attacking author states the conference is "full of bullshit." He even criticizes the well established diagnosis of Dissociative Identity Disorder, citing Paul McHugh.
Information on Paul McHugh is at http://ritualabuse.us/research/memory-fms/paul-mchugh/
"The problem with McHugh’s publications on MPD/DID, like those of Mersky, is that they are mere speculation. From deposition testimony in several cases, McHugh has made it clear that other than an occasional consultation, he has very little actual clinical experience with the ongoing treatment of MPD/DID patients and is generally unfamiliar with both the clinical features of MPD/DID and with what usually occurs in their treatment. This McHugh’s opinion is informed neither by actual in-depth clinical experience with contemporary MPD/DID patients nor by any scientific research on MPD."
"At least eight men have been convicted of sexually abusing Maryland children while under treatment at the “sex disorders” clinic McHugh runs at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine – abuse the doctors did not report, citing client confidentiality."
The attacking author writes "As Brick wrote in an angry comment upon my first half of this article, “who are you to decide what people remember?” Yet, Brick did not say any such thing. This is more inaccurate writing from the attacking author.
The attacking author writes "Disassociative Disorders” and "Disassociative Identity Disorder" yet they are actually called "Dissociative Disorders" and "Dissociative Identity Disorder."
But if the author had any experience in the field, he would know this.
The attacking author's continued one-sided attack on our conference is inaccurate, insulting and simply untrue.
Saturday, August 29, 2009
Rebuttal to the Report from the SMART 2009 conference
Rebuttal to an attack on our recent conference in August 2009.
Our ritual abuse conference went really well this year. Many excellent researchers from several countries presented data backing the existence of ritual abuse crimes in a variety of settings.
Unfortunately a “journalist” snuck into the conference under false pretenses pseudonymously. This person on a website for radiofreesatan, where he is a DJ and is described as “an unscrupulous journalist.”
This journalist paid to enter the conference with a check. He stopped payment on the check after the conference.
Our conference brochure, which all that register are required to read, states “Members of secret organizations, acting out perpetrators, and/or members of unsympathetic organizations are excluded from the conference. This is for the protection and safety of those in attendance.”
Also, it is clearly announced at the beginning of the conference, “Please note that media people are not allowed in the conference at any time without the written permission of SMART.”
Less than one week after the conference, he placed a vicious article on a major Internet newspaper about myself, personally attacking myself Neil Brick, the conference attendees, the field of DID and memory. Attacks on myself included disparaging remarks about my appearance and voice as well claiming child abuse survivor accounts at the conference were fictional. Fortunately, with the hard work of many people, this article was removed from this major Internet newspaper after four days.
The author repeats the rebutted attacks on the field of DID and ritual abuse made over twenty years ago. The scientific research on DID shows it to be a solid and robust phenomenon that had been misdiagnosed as schizophrenia for over half a century. The research he cites “offer(s) no evidence that either stable alter personalities or the range of clinical features typically associated with MPD can be created in the laboratory.” Accurate information on DID and rebuttals to skeptics can be found at http://ritualabuse.us/research/did/
He also attacks the phenomenon of recovered memory. Yet recovered memory has been found to be a proven and verifiable phenomenon in many cases with fairly high accuracy rates. For more information on this, see http://childabusewiki.org/index.php?title=Recovered_Memories
He repeats the same misstatements made about “panic” made twenty years ago. Yet, ritual abuse crimes and their incident rates have been shown to be very real. For more information on this, see http://childabusewiki.org/index.php?title=Ritual_Abuse and http://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/
This author’s article concludes with several misstatements about what he claims I stated at the conference about the FMSF. However, I never stated any of these things. This is another misstatement made by the author.
In essence, his article contained insults, personal attacks, misstatements, misrepresented and slanted data as well as blatant lies.
The following are some comments posted on the website below the article attacking our conference before the article was permanently removed from the Internet. Some of these comments were removed from the page by the author, yet comments calling myself a “pedophile” more than once were allowed to stay up.
(Note: Many additional comments were made defending myself, the conference and ritual abuse survivors, we have not received permission yet to post these.)
Neil Brick 8/22/09
This article contains many untruths and insults.
No one by the name of _____ attended the conference. (Note: he attended with a fake name)
We clearly state in our conference registration form “members of unsympathetic organizations are excluded from the conference. This is for the protection and safety of those in attendance.”
We also clearly state that members of the media are not permitted to attend the conference without written permission, to protect the attendees anonymity.
The author above, if he did attend the conference, attended with a fake name and under false pretenses.
The article itself personally insults both myself and the conference attendees, with statements like….Yet several attendees and speaker have solid evidence including confessions of the perpetrators and scientific books and publications. These were left out of his article.
Neil Brick
The article also misrepresents the data around many important issues.
There are hundreds of scientific books and journals documenting the reality of ritual abuse crimes. Information on these can be found at http://ritualabuse.us
There was no MPD craze. It is well documented that most MPD (now called DID) cases were misdiagnosed as schizophrenia for over 60 years. There is no evidence of therapist “coercion” in the scientific literature. Spanos has been critiqued as seriously overgeneralized his data and his data “data offer no evidence that either stable alter personalities or the range of clinical features typically associated with MPD can be created in the laboratory.”
There was no “panic.” There were victims of horrible crimes coming forward to expose their perpetrators….
Neil Brick
Readers should draw their own conclusions around this issue, with thorough research about the topics of ritual abuse and DID.
However, one sided articles like the one above that contain personal insults about people serve no constructive purpose whatsoever. They only continue to polarize the debate around these issues and lower the level of civil and intellectual discourse.
August 23, 2009
Neil Brick
There is no such thing as “repressed memory therapy.” This is a construct of those that attack the field of therapy and those that attack those that help trauma survivors.
You make excuses for your personal attacks of others, yet you are responsible for your own behavior. You insult my voice and appearance in your article as well as the other conference attendees because of your supposed “disgust.” This goes beyond an ad hominem attack on your part, degenerating into name calling and personal insults.
You create a straw man argument, discussing an “international satanic conspiracy” yet no one has discussed this, and no has mentioned anything about a conspiracy. What has been mentioned is that ritual abuse does exist.
At my website, there are hundreds of books and article documenting ritual abuse crimes. Go to ritualabuse.us and click on the ritual abuse tab.
August 23, 2009
Neil Brick
You state (in the article author’s comment on the page): “yes, I did attend pseudononymously.” In other words, you must have used a fake ID to attend the conference, as all participants need to present an ID to gain admittance to protect the safety of all conference members.
So you lied to attend the conference. You misrepresented the reason you were attending and you even lied about who you were. So why should we believe you now?
You knew media personnel were not allowed at the conference without permission, yet you attended anyway, simply to attack myself and the conference.
You made up statements about what you claim I stated about the FMSF and you state we often cite Ms. Freyd, another fabrication. You even got my height wrong.
Your article does not fairly represent the research on the topics it presents.
You state “I see my description of Brick as accurate, even charitable.” Really, personally insulting someone’s appearance and voice is “charitable.”
Neil Brick
The author mentions Loftus to back his theory of memory.
Loftus is very biased in her interpretation of traumatic memory. There is NO evidence that traumatic memories can be created through manipulation. Loftus’ work has also been heavily critiqued. See the work of Hopper, Hoult, Crook, Pezdek and Pope. Loftus even published a study that shows recovered memory exists (Psychology of Women Quarterly, 18 (1994) 67-84.)
The reality is that recovered memory has been proven in numerous studies to exist and that it has fairly high corroboration rates. (go to ritualabuse.us and click on the related research tab)
Or use a search engine for “101 corroborated cases of recovered memory”
Neil Brick
8/23/09
Since you ignored my question the first time, here it is again:
You state: “yes, I did attend pseudononymously.” In other words, you must have used a fake ID to attend the conference, as all participants need to present an ID to gain admittance to protect the safety of all conference members.
So you lied to attend the conference. You misrepresented the reason you were attending and you even lied about who you were. So why should we believe you now?
What kind of a “researcher” uses a fake ID to attend a conference and then repeatedly uses name calling and insults to “prove” their points?
Note:
The author of the article attacking our conference made a comment on 8/23/09 about the daughter of Pamela Freyd, stating her daughter (Jennifer) recovered her memories during therapy sessions and then retracted the claim and reconciled.
It was point out to the author in a comment on the page that Jennifer did not recover her memories in therapy, nor did she retract, nor did she ever reconcile with her mother. This entire section was deleted by the article author the next day.
Neil Brick
8/23/09
You keep mentioning “hats.” One conference table (of many, note how the author only describes one) run by one person did have information on how to protect oneself from certain electromagnetic frequencies. There is scientific evidence that certain electromagnetic frequencies can cause problems for certain people. However, most conference participants were not involved with this topic. And whether one believes this topic is accurate or not certainly has nothing to do with the fact that ritual abuse exists around the world.
A dishonest debater would of course conflate the two terms to discredit both.
Neil Brick
8/24/09
It is interesting that several comments I have made defending myself,
even today, as well as others’ comments defending me have been deleted, yet libelous comments calling me a “pedophile” have been kept.
The author’s creation of a straw man argument, that there is an organized conspiracy, is of course a dishonest debate tactic. The point is that ritual abuse exists around the world and that this is well documented.
My organization helps trauma survivors, by providing resources and
accurate information to them. His article hurts them, by
personally attacking myself and them, in a one sided and inaccurate
manner. He has not corrected his several misstatements as promised, but he has continued to present his disinformation. He has no experience in the field of trauma, and repeats the same misstatements by others about the field of trauma.
sondra
This reporter failed to mention the professionals who spoke at this conference, or Anne A Johnson, author of Hell Minus One, who obtained written confessions from her parent. Another sources for facts: Colin Ross’ book, Bluebird: Deliberate Creation of Multiple Personality by Psychiatrists, based on 15,000 pages of documents obtained from the CIA. The FMSF was formed by Pamela and Peter Freyd, Hollida Wakefield and Ralph Underwager. Pamela and Peter Freyd are parents of Jennifer Freyd, who, despite statements to the contrary, always had memories of her abuse, and never recanted. You can find Jennifer’s story (and her refusal to recant) in her book, Betrayal Trauma: the Logic of Forgetting Childhood Abuse. This reporter entered the conference under false pretenses, creating false images. I am disappointed in this newspaper for allowing this, and expect better things from it in the future. Meanwhile, please do your own research on this topic rather than buying into this version. sondra
Cecilie says:
I am very grateful to Neil Brick for the work he continues to do on behalf of RA and government mind control victims. Articles like yours contribute to survivors fears of coming forward and reinforce the public’s head in the sand position, thus prolonging the exposure of this kind of activity.
I am a survivor of ritual abuse in the Catholic Church….If you are a sincere person and not just trying to add to the misinformation out there, I suggest you do some reading on the current research out there on trauma and DID. You are are sadly misinformed.
August 24
August 22, 2009.
Pamela Perskin Noblitt
I responded to the article with the following comment:
If I were Mr. Brick, I would consult a lawyer to discuss the defamatory manner in which he was characterized in this article. Your disrespectful, biased, and poorly researched story is clearly a work of fiction….Journalism requires an open mind, an investigative spirit, and a passion for truth and justice. Sadly, you are lacking in each of these departments. Perhaps you should take the time to actually do some research. And by research, I mean studying alternative perspectives from your own with discretion, respect, and scientifically based inquisitiveness. Remember the first rule of science is parsimony. The simplest answer is often the truest. Which is more likely? That people dreadfully abused in childhood carry lifelong scars? Or that well-reared, well cared for children grow to adulthood and suddenly turn on their good parents? I wish you well in your next career.
Pamela Perskin Noblitt
I have been researching the area of religious cults for the past 33 years and ritual abuse for the past 20 years. In my chapter on History of Satanic Religions in Out of Darkness (I document that satanic (in the original meaning of the term satanic as simply adversarial to social norms) has a long history. This dovetails with University of Alberta Sociology Professor Stephen Kent’s articles in Religion in 1993 in which he analyzed the content of abuse survivors statements and found differences between Masonic satanic abuse, Christian satanic abuse and Mormon satanic abuse….
all the best
Martin H. Katchen
Kay says:
My memories were clear all the way. I was seduced at 14, which is rape by law. He told me to keep quiet, because he was a man of [God] and because of brainwashing by the Institutional Corporate Roman Catholic Church. It took me more than 45 years but, because of survivor support groups like SNAP and SMART, I can now post my full name without fear….I believe Mr. Brick is a victim/survivor of ritual abuse, further; I admire and respect Mr. Brick and SMART for reaching out to other survivors. You chose, with the stroke of your pen, to degrade not only Mr. Brick, but every other human being who does not fit in a [box]. Like…, your attitude comes across as arrogant and threatening. People have feelings.
August 23, 3:43 PM
Kay says:
ATTENTION! NEWSFLASH! Freedom of Speech exists, is alive, and flourishing. Freedom of the Press exists, is alive, and flourishing. Mr. Brick convened a group of people who are survivors of ritual abuse. The author attended that conference. Instead of reporting on the conference, he chose to use…to vent against victim/survivors of any form of abuse, including abuse by brainwashing. The author has certainly achieved his goal….The author has chosen to use his talent as a writer to demean others. I am NOT a survivor of ritual abuse. I am NOT a professional with credentials. I AM, however, a survivor of child rape by a Roman Catholic priest via brainwashing that led me to believe that a priest is “God” on earth.
August 23, 1:33 PM
This was sent to the online newspaper after the article was taken down.
Thank you for taking down the article about the SMART conference, dealing with Ritual Abuse Torture and Mind Control. As a survivor, this conference had been a life line for me. When the problem of Child Sexual abuse within the family was first brought up, people didn’t want to believe that it was happening. Not even professionals. I don’t think that any of us would deny it today. Ritual Abuse Torture is going through the same process.
Hopefully the writer doesn’t have a personal interest in discarding survivor’s reports, as do the actual criminals. I would like to think that he just has a hard time believing such things can happen to children. They do. They happened to me and to clients I worked with as a therapist.
No matter what the writer’s motivation is, survivors need support and not attack. The person who organizes these conferences put many hours of hard work into them and does not deserve such treatment. Neil especially takes a special care to make this conference a safe place for survivors. Just a small example: I must have been coming to the conference for the last five years and Neil knows me quite well by now. Never the less you can rest assure that he will still be asking for my ID when I first walk in.
Trying to discredit and silence us does not help the children who still suffer today. Again, thank you for removing the article…from your website. It was defamatory, insulting, and inaccurate.
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