Sadistic cult leader sentenced to 26 years, Man abused and enslaved six women and dozens of children

Sadistic cult leader sentenced to 26 years
Man abused and enslaved six women and dozens of children, some of whom continue to support him
By Stuart Winer and Spencer Ho October 17, 2013

A man who headed a religious cult that physically, mentally, and sexually abused a group of women and their children was sentenced to 26 years behind bars by the Jerusalem District Court on Thursday.

The man, 58, who has remained unnamed in the media, was also ordered to pay a total of NIS 100,000 (some $28,000) to his victims. A second man, who was an accomplice in the crimes, was sentenced to six years in prison. The separate trial of a third man involved in the case is still underway.

Prosecuting lawyer Sagi Ofer had asked for a sentence of 65 years for the cult leader and 20 years for his deputy....

Last month the man and his assistant were found guilty of sex offenses, violence, confinement in conditions of slavery, and abuse of women and minors, including some of who are his own children. The court found that the man exploited his family’s religious faith, and their belief in him as a spiritual leader, in order to perpetrate the crimes against them....

The case shocked the country when it came to light in August 2011 after one of the women broke free and alerted authorities to the conditions that the man imposed on his followers. According to the court verdict, the group was composed of the man, six women, and 17 children. The convicted man convinced women to join with him in what initially appeared to be a pleasant life. However, once under his control, the women faced continued physical and sexual abuse, as did their children....

The women and children were subject to daily “confessions” and “judgments” and were punished by means of imprisonment, starvation, physical and mental abuse, humiliation, sexual abuse, and severe violence, according to the indictment. Police found numerous torture devices when they searched the house.
http://www.timesofisrael.com/sadistic-cult-leader-sentenced-to-26-years/

Bush Admin's Torture Program, Italian bishop, priest child porn conviction

BBC - Children victims of half of all sex offences

Human Experimentation at the Heart of Bush Administration's Torture Program
6 June 2010 by: Jason Leopold, t r u t h o u t
High-value detainees captured during the Bush administration's "war on terror," who were subjected to brutal torture techniques, were used as "guinea pigs" to gauge the effectiveness of various torture techniques, a practice that has raised troubling comparisons to Nazi-era human experimentation. according to a disturbing new report released by Physicians for Human Rights, an international doctors' organization...."Health professionals working for and on behalf of the CIA monitored the interrogations of detainees, collected and analyzed the results of [the] interrogations, and sought to derive generalizable inferences to be applied to subsequent interrogations," said the 27-page report, entitled "Experiments in Torture: Human Subject Research and Evidence of Experimentation in the 'Enhanced' Interrogation Program." "Such acts may be seen as the conduct of research and experimentation by health professionals on prisoners, which could violate accepted standards of medical ethics, as well as domestic and international law. These practices could, in some cases, constitute war crimes and crimes against humanity." http://www.truthout.org/human-experimentation-heart-bush-administrations-torture-program60199


Italian bishop accused of sex abuse cover-up Agence France-Presse May 31, 2010
ROME - The alleged victim of an Italian priest who is on trial for sex abuse has pressed charges against the bishop overseeing the accused's diocese at a court in Rome, his lawyer said Monday. Bishop Gino Reali of Porto San Rufina outside Rome is charged with complicity in the abuse crimes of Ruggero Conti, who was arrested in June 2008 and is being tried on charges of sexually abusing children in his parish. Reali "should have told Italian judicial authorities" as well as the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith — the Vatican body that deals with sex abuse allegations — about the case, lawyer Farbrizio Gallo told AFP.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/Italian+bishop+accused+abuse+cover/3093270/story.html



Church remained silent about child porn conviction 04 June 2010 BJS News
The Catholic Church took no action against priest convicted of downloading child pornography - Despite being convicted of possessing child pornography in 2005, the Catholic Church in Denmark allowed a Catholic priest to continue carrying out his duties including teaching children and young people. In this latest scandal to rock the Danish Catholic Church, it was announced that the priest had recently been suspended, but the church did not mention the reason. The priest was convicted of paying for and downloading 38 movies involving minors. He was sentenced to pay 6,000 kroner and his computer was confiscated. Bishop Czeslaw Kozlon, who is head of the Catholic Church in Denmark, did not inform the chair of the parish council in question why the priest had been relieved of his duties.
http://www.cphpost.dk/news/national/49157-church-remained-silent-about-child-porn-conviction.html

Children victims of half of all sex offences 7 June 2010 Almost half of all sex offences are committed against children, despite them making up just 21% of the population, the BBC has learned....A similar survey conducted by the NSPCC in January suggested more than 21,618 sex offences - or 60 a day - had been committed against children in 2008/9. The charity found that one in seven victims were younger than 10, while 1,000 cases involved children aged five or under, with some so young they did not understand what had happened to them. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk/10254922.stm