Documentary record Bound by Fear
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Conviction Christian institutions & contexts Catholic Lugano, Ticino, Switzerland · 2025

Switzerland: Ticino priest convicted of sexually coercing nine parishioners, four of them minors

Record class

Core record

Evidence status

Convicted

Authority role

Catholic parish priest, Diocese of Lugano

Organization

Diocese of Lugano

Spiritual nexus

The priest's pastoral authority over parishioners in his care, including minors under his religious instruction, was the relationship in which the sustained pattern of coercion occurred.

  • Pastoral or clerical authority

Evidence structure

Proceedings

  1. 2025-08-14 · trial conviction

    Tribunale penale cantonale, Lugano, Switzerland. The Ticino cantonal criminal court in Lugano sentenced the priest to 18 months' imprisonment, suspended, for multiple counts of sexual coercion and sexual acts with minors. The offences occurred between 2015 and 2023 against at least nine victims, four of them minors. The court imposed a lifetime professional ban on contact with minors and ordered outpatient therapy.

Documented coercion mechanisms

  • priestly pastoral authority over parishioners, including minors under his religious instruction

Primary record

Sources

national newspaper court reporting verdict and sentencing report RTS, 'Un prêtre condamné à un an et demi de prison avec sursis au Tessin pour abus sexuels.' French: reports the 18-month suspended sentence, nine victims, lifetime ban. English gloss: 'A priest sentenced to eighteen months' suspended prison in Ticino for sexual abuse.'

Primary national-broadcaster report on the verdict.

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