Release of film on accused Catholic sex abuser OK’D
PARIS— A French judge refused Monday to block the release in French cinemas of a movie based on an accused sexual abuser in the Catholic Church.
French director Francois Ozon’s film “Grace a Dieu” (“By the Grace of God”) won the Berlin Film Festival’s jury grand prize Saturday. The movie, which opens Wednesday, portrays French priest Bernard Preynat, who has been accused of molesting dozens of boys during the 1980s and ’90s.
Preynat’s lawyers said the picture depicted allegations as facts and should have been blocked because it does not respect the presumption of innocence. Preynat has been handed preliminary charges of sexual assaults on minors, and prosecutors are determining whether he will be brought to trial.
Preynat has confessed to abusing Boy Scouts, and victims say the church covered for him for years, allowing him to work with children until his 2015 retirement.
His lawyer, Emmanuel Mercinier, said the judge ruled Monday that messages in the film noting that people are presumed innocent until proven guilty were enough to guarantee Preynat’s rights.
Preynat could go on trial in for sexual violence against multiple children. So far, 13 victims are involved in that case, but he is accused of having abused as many as 70 children. Preynat hasn’t publicly spoken about the allegations but he has written letters to some families confessing to abuse.
The victims have accused Cardinal Philippe Barbarin, who became archbishop of Lyon in 2002, of having allowed Preynat to continue serving as a priest and having contact with children despite rumors about his actions.
Barbarin, 68, went on trial last month and testified that he was unjustly accused. A verdict is expected March 7.
Ozon’s movie title comes from a news conference in 2016 when Barbarin, asked about the abuses by Preynat, said “most of the facts, by the grace of God, fell outside the statute of limitations.”