German police raid properties of Archdiocese of Cologne in perjury probe
File photo.
The German police on Tuesday (June 27) carried out a raid on properties belonging to the Archdiocese of Cologne as part of a perjuryinvestigation againstCardinal Rainer Maria Woelki. According to a report by DW, the raids started during morning hours with police searching four properties in Cologne and one property each in both Kassel and the town of Lohfelden in Hesse.
The report added that around 30 police officers were involved in the raids. The raids were also carried out at the premises of an IT company that supplied email service for the archdiocese.
Raids met with cooperation
Public broadcaster WDR reported that the raids were met with cooperation, with Cardinal Woelki opening the door to the cops at the archbishop's residence. "The measures were carried out without incident and met with widespread cooperation at their respective search locations," authorities said as perDW.
The raids come as the Archbishop of Cologne has been accused of lying in court over his knowledge of sexual abuse cases in the church. Perjury is a felony offence and carries a minimum sentence of one year in prison. Prosecutors expect the investigation to take several months.
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What is the cardinal accused of?
Cardinal Woelki is accused of failing to inform the Vatican about a sexual abuse allegation involving a priest after he took office as the Archbishop of Cologne in 2014. The case is about a priest in Düsseldorf who died in 2017 with whom Woelki worked. As per a DW report in 2020, a victim contacted the Archdiocese of Cologne in 2010, the priest sexually abused him when he was a child in the late 1970s.
A year later, the victim was compensated in recognition of his suffering. The priest in Düsseldorf was accused of numerous counts of sexual abuse against minors.
Cardinal Woelki said he had only known about the cases since 2022. However, a former employee said she had drawn up a list of abusers for him in 2015 but that did not interest the cardinal at all.
The DW report further said that the probe leading to Tuesday's raid came from a complaint issued by an individual after the cardinal gave a sworn statement in a case against Bild newspaper over claims of libel in March.
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