In the defendant’s cage in a courtroom… that’s where all paedophiles and pederasts belong (including certain known clergy, of course)!
Fr Vsevolod Chaplin advocates that the courts mete out “stern and inexorable” punishment to paedophiles and child pornographers. “Anyone who rapes a child should be sentenced to a maximum security prison for a long time… preferably forever. We should throw the book at such criminals”, Fr Vsevolod Chaplin, deputy head of the Department of External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate, said to Interfax on Thursday. This was part of Fr Vsevolod’s commentary on the case of former boxer Aleksandr Kuznetsov. Mr Kuznetsov, who is from St Petersburg, beat to death a 20-year-old man who sexually molested his young stepson. A criminal investigation is under way, and Mr Kuznetsov has been charged with wilful assault and battery that resulted in the unintentional death of the victim. Fr Vsevolod said that, in his opinion, “Mr Kuznetsov’s action was understandable”. Furthermore, he said that “the fact that there are people out there capable of such dirty crimes”, who attack 8-year-old boys, is despicable.
“At the same time, I would hope that the operation of our criminal justice system would be such so that no one would attempt such a foul deed against a child”, Fr Vsevolod stated, and he also emphasised that the Church, society, and professional jurists should demand that “punishment for paedophiles and child pornographers be stern and inexorable. Those who grow rich upon the sexual exploitation of children or child pornography must not go unpunished. We should not allow any softness or mercy towards such people, and the punishment for them must be stern and certain. In this manner, we shall ensure that no more parents shall have to confront the tragic and terrible moral dilemma that faced Mr Kuznetsov”, Fr Vsevolod noted.
31 January 2008
Interfax-Religion
