Conviction New religious movements Guru-led movement or ashram Cortona, Arezzo, Italy · 2021

Italy: ex-priest 'santone' — sexual-violence conviction against sect followers final at Cassation

Record class

Core record

Evidence status

Convicted

Authority role

ex-priest leading a commune-like healing sect for two decades

Organization

No organization assigned

Spiritual nexus

The victims were members of a sect who submitted to the ex-priest's claimed healing and spiritual authority within a closed communal structure.

Evidence structure

Proceedings

2021-02-01 · sexual-violence conviction final; further counts retried

Italian courts; Corte di Cassazione (Feb. 2021); Corte d'Assise d'Appello di Firenze (Oct. 2021). Mauro Cioni, an ex-priest who ran a commune-like sect near Cortona for some twenty years as its 'santone', had his 8-year sexual-violence conviction against followers confirmed as final by the Court of Cassation in February 2021. A remanded slavery count led a Florence appellate court in October 2021 to impose a higher combined sentence, whose finality was not confirmed in the sources reviewed.

Primary record

national newspaper court reporting final appellate disposition 'Il santone di Montecchio: Cassazione conferma la condanna per violenza sessuale', La Nazione (2021).: Reports the Cassation confirmation of the sexual-violence conviction and the remand on the slavery count.

Related record