Documentary record Bound by Fear
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Conviction Christian institutions & contexts Catholic Boaco, Nicaragua · 2022

Nicaragua: parish priest sentenced to 30 years for abuse of a girl, amid contested proceedings

Record class

Core record

Evidence status

Convicted

Authority role

Catholic parish priest

Organization

Parroquia Perpetuo Socorro, Boaco

Spiritual nexus

The complainant was a child of the parish in which the defendant served as priest; the pastoral authority attaching to that office is what afforded the access.

  • Pastoral or clerical authority

Evidence structure

Proceedings

  1. 2022-09-02 · conviction and sentence

    Nicaraguan criminal court. José Leonardo Urbina Rodríguez, 51, parish priest of the Perpetuo Socorro church in Boaco, was sentenced to 30 years for sexual abuse in concurrence with rape and minor psychological injury against a 14-year-old girl. The sentence comprised 12 years for each of two abuse counts (December 2021 and January 2022) and 25 years for the rape count, with detention recorded to run to 12 July 2052.

Documented coercion mechanisms

  • pastoral authority over a child of the parish

Primary record

Sources

international news agency verdict and sentencing report 'Sacerdote nicaragüense es condenado a 30 años de cárcel por abusar de menor', EFE / SWI swissinfo.ch, 2 Sept. 2022.

International wire reporting the counts, the sentence breakdown, and the parish in which the defendant served.

institutional reporting verdict report with due process concerns 'Sentencian a sacerdote José Leonardo Urbina a 30 años de cárcel en Nicaragua', ACI Prensa (2022).

Catholic news agency reporting the same sentence while recording claims of defencelessness and procedural irregularity in the trial.

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