#priest #Satu #Mare #remanded #custody #allegedly #sexually #assaulting #minors
An Orthodox priest (about 60 years old) who serves at a church located on Drumul Botizului in the municipality of Satu Mare was picked up on Tuesday by the police from the Police Inspectorate of Satu Mare County and taken away, at the request of the prosecutors of the Prosecutor’s Office attached to the Satu Mare District Court , before the judge of rights and freedoms with the proposal of preventive arrest for 30 days. In front of the evidence presented by the prosecutors, the judges sent him behind bars, reports PresaSM.ro.
According to the publication, the management of the Prosecutor’s Office attached to the Satu Mare Court has sent that a criminal file is registered in which investigations are being carried out against the said SAD, who has the capacity of a priest, within the limits of the municipality of Satu Mare, under the aspect of committing crimes of sexual assault, deed previous and ped. of art. 219 para. 1 and para. 2 lit. c) Criminal Code and sexual assault committed on a minor, prev. and ped. of art. 2191 para. 12 and para. 3 lit. b) Criminal Code, with the application of art. 38 para. 1 Criminal Code, the acts being committed against two minor injured persons, during the years 2023-2024.
By the order dated 12.04.2024 of the prosecutor of the Prosecutor’s Office attached to the Satu Mare District Court, it was ordered to initiate the criminal action, and subsequently to detain the defendant for a period of 24 hours (…).
The press office of the Romanian Orthodox Episcopate of Maramureș and Sătmar reacted and made public the identity of the priest from Satu Mare accused of sexually assaulting two minors. “Regarding the case of priest Silaghi Augustin Dorel, parish priest of the “Saints Peter and Paul” Parish in the municipality of Satu Mare, who is currently in the custody of the Satu Mare police and is the subject of a criminal case, the Romanian Orthodox Episcopate of Maramureș and Sătmarului makes the following clarifications: Priest Silaghi Augustin Dorel is a priest in the Diocese of Maramureș and Sătmarului since 1991, until now; From the moment he entered the clergy, he did not have any kind of disciplinary or moral misconduct, showing seriousness, being appreciated by the faithful in the parishes where he pastored; With regret, I learned on February 13, 2024, that he is in police custody, being the subject of a criminal case, which is currently under investigation; At the moment when the information was confirmed, in the Diocesan Permanence Meeting on February 13, 2024, His Holiness Father Iustin ordered the total stop from performing any holy works of Fr. Silaghi Augustin Dorel and his referral for investigation to the Diocesan Consistory with the proposal of confession, in case the completion of the file will prove his guilt; The leadership of the “Holy Apostles Peter and Paul” parish in the municipality of Satu Mare was provisionally entrusted to the priest Fărcaș Ovidiu Valentin, until the legal case is resolved,” the statement states.
According to some information from open judicial sources, it appears that the priest would not have raped them, being accused only of sexual assault, which could mean – in the opinion of the judicial bodies – that he would have made proposals interpreted as indecent or that would be touched in a way considered inappropriate, with sexual overtones.
We can assume – by way of consequence – that the rights and liberties judge of the Satu Mare Court considered that the evidence in the file would be quite clear if he accepted the request of the prosecutors to pre-arrest the priest for 30 days: “(… ) accepts the proposal for preventive arrest formulated by the Prosecutor’s Office attached to the Satu Mare District Court in file no. 296/131/P/2024 concerning the defendant SAD (…), investigated for committing the crimes of sexual assault and sexual assault on a minor (…). It orders the preventive arrest of the defendant SAD for a period of 30 days, starting from 13.02.2024 and up to and including 13.03.2024. It rejects as unfounded the request of the defendant’s chosen lawyer regarding the preventive measure of judicial control or house arrest”.
The priest’s defender, namely the lawyer Răzvan Doseanu, stated for PresaSM that all the accusations brought by the criminal investigation bodies are not true. “There is no such thing as a deed. I can tell you that the elements of typicality for the crimes with which my client is accused are not met. We are not commenting more at this moment,” said Răzvan Doseanu for PresaSM.
