Frederico Cunha

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Frederico Marques Cunha ORC (* 12. April 1950 in Natal , Brazil ) is a for murder and sexual abuse of children and young people convicted Roman Catholic priest and member of the Angels work . By escaping in 1998, he evaded prison and was banned from entering Portugal .

Life

Studies and Profession

In Brazil, Cunha joined the Engelwerk, an inner-Catholic group founded by the alleged mystic Gabriele Bitterlich in Austria, and in Italy the religious order of Canon Regulars of the Holy Cross (short: Order of the Cross) within the Engelwerk. His teachings state: “Nobody is allowed to say anything about what he has seen or heard or has been asked to do. Usually it says death ” . Cunha came to Europe in 1981 with other Engelwerk members. He completed his theology studies at the Portuguese-speaking papal college in Rome , which was headed by Teodoro de Faria at the time .

In 1983, in the meantime appointed Bishop of Funchal by Pope John Paul II , Teodoro de Faria accepted Cunha into his diocese on the Portuguese island of Madeira after his profession in the Order of the Cross and, knowing about Cunha's homosexuality , appointed him his private secretary . The clergy in Madeira welcomed the bishop's interest in "such a bizarre person" with amazement. In Madeira, there were frequent complaints from believers about the Father because of the “ rules of little faith ” that Cunha established. He was also noticed because he wore skull symbols on the belt buckle and ring.

After repeated transfers from parish to parish, including to Piquinho , where, after Sunday masses , he had sexually approached several children at the same time under the pretext of a playful "sofa technique" , Cunha finally stayed from 1987 to 1990 in the parish of São Jorge in the north from Madeira, where he met his later accomplice Miguel Noite and entered into a relationship with him. There pederasty occurred several times in the rectory . Instead of submitting a new parish to the priest, Bishop Faria appointed him teacher of religion in Machico .

Murder of Luís Miguel Correia

The scene of the crime: Ponta de São Lourenço near Caniçal in eastern Madeira
Caniçal (red) in the Machico district (dark gray); on the far right of the picture is the promontory of Ponta de São Lourenço

On the morning of May 2, 1992, 15-year-old Luís Miguel Escórcio Correia was found dead on the beach below the cliffs near Caniçal , where the Engelwerk had its Casa do Caniçal branch . The police initially assumed a fatal accident . It was only during the autopsy of the body that the coroner Emanuel Pita discovered that several injuries, including the fatal head injury and cracks in the hands, could not have been caused by falling off the cliff. On the basis of the autopsy results, a criminal investigation was initiated against unknown persons. Criminal and enforcement proceedings were overshadowed by cover-up measures as well as attempted and completed criminal evasion and, most recently, prisoner liberation.

Arrest and preliminary investigation

The Portuguese police opened an investigation after an anonymous witness reported by telephone in May 1992 that they had seen Cunha's car at the scene. During the course of the trial, several witnesses came forward who alleged that Cunha had been coerced into sexual acts as children or adolescents . During a house search on Cunha's premises, the police found a series of child and youth pornographic photos taken by the priest of his victims. On 25 May 1992 Cunha was in the parish of Água de Pena , as he celebrated Mass, arrested and in prison of the city Funchal in custody taken.

The local bishop of the diocese of Funchal, Teodoro de Faria, protested against Cunha's arrest and called him "innocent like Jesus Christ " and verbally attacked the Jews . Many Catholics in the press were "surprised, shocked and ashamed" by this comparison. Numerous priests in the diocese, however, tried to influence witnesses in order to induce them to make false statements in favor of the accused. Several priests from the Engelwerk, which, according to their own account, had almost 10,000 regulated members in the year of the crime , also tried with the same intention to bribe witnesses . Engelwerk founder Gabriele Bitterlich had justified lies from Engelwerk members as "angelic spirituality" even before Cunha's accession.

Several witnesses said they saw Cunha accompanied by Correia at the time of the crime near the crime scene , a lookout point on the cliffs of Caniçal. Cunha's godchild, Miguel Noite, tried to get his friend and company sponsor an alibi by claiming that he himself and not the murder victim had been with Cunha in the lookout point. This alibi turned out to be unfounded thanks to the statements of the director and the receptionist of the Hotel Maltur , where Cunha had stayed on the night of May 1st and 2nd. Both witnesses confirmed that Cunha had received a call from Noite at the hotel. Thereupon Cunha suffered a fit of madness for fear that the phone call might have been tapped , in the course of which he made allegations to the receptionist.

Two witnesses were convicted in the course of the perjury proceedings . The witness Moniz Alves claimed that Correia was dancing in a bar around 11 p.m. on May 1, 1992 at the alleged time of the crime. Alves later confessed to receiving a bribe for the testimony from Cunha's mother, Leonor Barros da Cunha. Snack-bar owner Pedro Melim sworn to have sold Correia a sandwich for immediate consumption late that evening on the day of the act. The autopsy protocol revealed that Melim had lied, because no food residues had been found in the dead man's stomach, only salt water.

Cunha himself only partially accepted the charge and refused to answer the judge's question whether he was homosexual . He replied to several questions from the court that he could not remember, became involved in contradictions and denied the criminal offenses of which he was charged. Furthermore, he denied his membership in the Order of the Cross and only granted a “non-canonical six-month novitiate in the Engelwerk from 1977 to 1978”, although this was only able to accept novices after the restoration of the Order of the Cross in 1979. In canon law there is neither a six-month nor a non-canonical novitiate. Later judicial investigations and press research also refuted Cunha's statements.

Main hearings and judgments

Upon completion of the investigation was in February 1993 in the District Court in Santa Cruz accusations against Cunha and Noite for qualified murder of a minor to conceal a sexual offense charged. The total sentence for both offenses was 12–28 years, and the life sentence had already been abolished in Portugal.

The jury , chaired by criminal judge Sílvio Sousa, concluded that Cunha had met Correia on May 1, 1992 in Caniçal and offered him a hitchhiker's ride in his car. At the lookout point on the cliffs outside the village near Ponta de São Lourenço, Cunha tried to force the youth to engage in sexual acts. Fearing discovery, Cunha had knocked Correia down and thrown it off a cliff. According to two witnesses, Cunha's attorney in the first instance , Alvez Teixeira, admitted the pedophile acts committed by his client prior to the murder, but denied it was committed by Cunha, who had never used violence in his previous sexual offenses .

In March 1993, Cunha was in accordance with the results of the evidence by material evidence unanimity a 13-year cumulative sentence and subsequent deportation from Portugal condemned . The defense and prosecutors appealed before the verdict became final. Miguel Noite was of murder and sexual abuse of the allegations acquitted , but because of obstruction of justice to one year and three months imprisonment suspended sentence. Noite also appealed to the Supremo Tribunal de Justiça , Portugal's highest criminal court in Lisbon . All appeals were granted.

In February 1994 the Supremo Tribunal confirmed both convictions and the respective sentences as the final instance. Cunha was also sentenced to pay the relatives of the murder victim 1,600,000 escudos as compensation. All subsequent requests by defense lawyer Romeu Francês to retrial Cunha were dismissed and the conviction became final. Noite left Portugal after the verdict. Local Bishop Teodoro de Faria was convicted of putting pressure on the judiciary.

Eighteen years after the murder, public prosecutor João Freitas publicly stated that he had been pressured several times during the course of the criminal proceedings to force the accused to be acquitted . Freitas stated that the pressure was not exerted solely by the church; he himself is a practicing Catholic.

While in prison in Portugal

Since the final conviction Cunha was serving the first year of his sentence in prison Vale dos Judeus ( port. For Valley of the Jews ) in Alcoentre on the Portuguese mainland . In the journal Kirche intern published by the Austrian priest Rudolf Schermann , the Order of the Cross denied Cunha's membership there (according to information about 160 members in the year of the crime). However, in 2006, 2010 and 2014 its membership was confirmed and described in detail. In 1994, a general amnesty shortened the sentence to 11 years, 4 months and 15 days.

Escape and consequences

In April 1998 the execution judge Margarida Vieira de Almeida granted the priest, against the advice of the prison director António Oliveira, an eight-day release to spend with his mother in Lisbon. Cunha took the opportunity to escape and took a plane via Madrid to Rio de Janeiro in Brazil. His original passport was left in prison; Cunha used a second copy issued by the Brazilian Embassy in Lisbon. Investigations have been initiated into the passport violation.

Cunha's escape was only noticed 24 hours after the prison return deadline; the Portuguese Ministry of Justice admitted errors in border controls. Justice Minister José Vera Jardim announced that the Brazilian embassy had known Cunha as a prisoner . The compensation awarded by the court to Correia's parents was not paid by either Cunha or the Roman Catholic Church, which was obliged to pay as a replacement (as of March 2018).

In Brazil, Cunha denied being homosexual and, contrary to the victim's testimony, accused his 26-year-old godfather, José Martins, of taking the pornographic photos attributed to him. He also claimed to have been in his car with another boy at the time of the crime and to want to work with people in need in the future. After the escape, Portugal introduced a law according to which the airports receive lists of people outdoors so that the case cannot be repeated.

Church support of the perpetrator

Frederico Cunha was not held responsible by the Catholic Church for either the abuse or the murder and remained in office after his escape.

It was only in 2002 that Teodoro Faria, despite the rebuttal of his false statements in favor of Cunha, still Bishop of Funchal, admitted his knowledge of Cunha's pedophile activities. The Catholic-modernist initiative We are Church , which is not recognized by the church , accused the bishop of “scandalously unbalanced behavior” in this case. Faria herself remained in the episcopate beyond the age limit of 75 until Pope Benedict XVI. on March 8, 2007 accepted his application for indemnification.

A church legal proceedings against Cunha was never introduced in 22 years after the murder. In July 2015 it emerged that the father had remained a registered priest of the Funchal diocese. He confirmed this himself in February 2016, claiming that the criminal proceedings against him were a violation of his privacy and privacy; he was convicted of being a father, Brazilian and alleged homosexual and the public prosecutor was a swindler. Instead of repeating that he knew the real murderers, this time he stated that Correia's death could have been an accident; however, this had already been ruled out by the autopsy in 1992. The diocese of Funchal initially refused to provide information about the case upon request. The prosecutor in charge, Marques Freitas, stated that he did not understand the silence of the diocese and added that Cunha had had helpers to escape.

The diocese of Funchal only initiated a review process in August 2015 as to whether Cunha should be suspended or another church sentence. This did not happen at least until February 2019. In connection with Cunha's never-ending church activities and the cover-up of his crimes by the local diocese, the Portuguese journalist António Fontes described the diocese of Funchal as monte de esterco (manure heap).

After the escape

After arriving in Rio de Janeiro, Cunha lived with his mother at least until 2006, who had helped him escape by obtaining a forged passport . Immediately after his escape, he publicly declared: "I had help from the church". In Brazil, too, he remained a member of the Order of Canon Regulars of the Holy Cross, the elite organization of the angel work. Until 2004 he again attracted attention through the sexual seduction of young people. Shortly after Cunha's return to Brazil, State Secretary of Justice Sandra Valle declared that Cunha could also be legally convicted in Brazil for a crime committed in Portugal , as the Portuguese Attorney General Cunha Rodrigues demanded; this did not happen in practice.

The Portuguese government issued an arrest warrant ; Foreign Minister Jaime Gama requested a statement from the Brazilian government, which he received. After returning to Brazil, Cunha claimed he knew the real perpetrators; he said he could produce enough proof of his innocence to bring about a retrial in Portugal or Brazil and was only a scapegoat . The Portuguese secret service had also proven his innocence, but this was not accepted by the court. A young person who knew the real perpetrator was also murdered. However, the charge could not be shaken, so that the valid guilty verdict remained.

Crimes in Brazil 2007-2015

According to the federal police in Rio de Janeiro, Cunha was arrested on May 18, 2007 on charges of sexual abuse in Brazil. The victim was a former student of an institution in which Cunha continued to serve as a priest through liturgies , marriages and baptisms and gave literacy courses despite his known criminal record . Cunha was temporarily released on bail of 10,000  Reáis , but received an unknown prison term for the case in Brazil . At a later date, he received a theft penalty , which was recorded on the nationwide Brazilian certificate of good conduct .

Extradition efforts

In 2003, Portugal temporarily waived further extradition requests. Portugal's later attempts to extradite the perpetrator, who has been incarcerated in Brazil since 2007, led to a violent conflict between the two countries at diplomatic level and, like the first extradition requests, were unsuccessful. At a congress of judges in the Azores in 2011, the Brazilian appellate judge Marco António Silva proposed that Cunha be extradited to Portugal by way of a prisoner exchange to serve the remainder of the sentence. In return, the Portuguese lawyer Duarte Lima, who was suspected of murdering a client in Brazil , was to be transferred to the Brazilian judiciary.

José Quaresma enforcement judge in the Portuguese city of Coimbra was to consider in this respect that Portugal for lack of extradition treaty no residents there with Brazil expel used. Quaresma also stated that Lima , who was previously only suspect, could not be extradited as such. For his part, Silva said that it was a question of diplomacy and that such an exchange would be unusual but legally possible. Silva proposed a reciprocal agreement between the two states. For offenses committed after August 1998, an extradition agreement already existed, which meant that similar cases could no longer be repeated.

In 2015, Cunha insulted the prosecutor and the judges as fascists and cowards in his murder trial . At the same time he praised Pope Francis in connection with his work against pedophilia. According to his defense lawyer, prosecution should expire in 2018; However, because of Cunha's flight, suspension of the statute of limitations or an extension of the deadline came into question. Against this background, Cunha declared that he would no longer want to leave Brazil even in the event of a statute of limitations. At this time he lived with his mother in Rio de Janeiro, between the districts of Copacabana and Ipanema , where he continued to celebrate masses without being incardinated in the locally responsible Archdiocese of Rio de Janeiro .

Life in Rio de Janeiro

In 2015, Cunha compared the actions of the Portuguese judiciary and press with the actions of the National Socialist Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels and again denied being a pedophile and a murderer. In February 2016, the Brazilian journalist Tânia de Laranjo reported that the fugitive priest who had been obliged to pay damages for the murder of Luís Miguel Correia was leading a luxury life in Copacabana.

Statute of limitations

The enforceability of the international arrest warrant and the remaining sentence became statute-barred on April 8, 2018. Nevertheless, the entry ban to Portugal remains in force and the survivors' entitlement to compensation remains; Cunha continues to face arrest if he tries to re-enter. As of August 2018, he was still in Brazil.

reception

Cunha's actions and behavior during the night were covered extensively in the media; For the response on the Internet, see the links under individual references and web links . The Cunha case was the criminal case with the most press coverage in the history of Portugal .

Non-fiction

In 1995, the Austrian journalist Walter Axtmann criticized the Bishop of Funchal, who verbally attacked the responsible public prosecutor's office during the criminal proceedings against Cunha and publicly defended the murderer. In 2004, the Portuguese writer César Príncipe addressed both Cunha's continued membership in the Order of the Cross and the priest's continued sexual approach to young people after his escape. In 2013, the German Catholic theologian and writer David Berger criticized the former Pope Benedict XVI. who in 2006 appointed the Engelwerk priest Athanasius Schneider ORC auxiliary bishop in the Kazakh diocese of Karaganda , although the Engelwerk "was in a dubious light", among other things due to the murder and sexual abuse in Madeira, according to Berger.

biography

  • Leonor Barros da Cunha: Padre Frederico, meu filho . Lisboa Estar, 1998. ISBN 9728095384

Television reports

See also

Individual evidence

  1. a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Walter Axtmann: Engelwerk - Murder on Madeira. In: Kirche intern , May 1995 edition, p. 41 f.
  2. a b Padre brasileiro foge de prisão em Lisboa ( Memento of January 29, 2012 in the Internet Archive ), Diário de Pernambuco , April 10, 1998
  3. a b c d e f g h i j k l m Manuel Catarino: Os pecados mortais do Padre Frederico ( Memento of December 12, 2013 in the Internet Archive ), in Correio da Manhã
  4. The manual of the angel work. Work of the Holy Angels, Innsbruck 1961, p. 252
  5. a b c Ricardo Soares: Terceiro escândalo sexual na Igreja da Madeira . ( Memento of April 2, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Tribuna da Madeira of April 9, 2014
  6. a b c d Lília Bernardes: Igreja nunca pagou indemnização aos pais da vítima do padre Frederico ( Memento of February 4, 2012 in the Internet Archive ), Diário de Notícias, March 29, 2010. Accessed on February 11, 2018.
  7. Bárbara Reis: O milagre do Portugal sem padres pedófilos. In: Público , March 22, 2019
  8. a b c Bárbara Reis: Padre Frederico, outro país. In: Público , December 9, 2012
  9. ^ A b Miguel Fernandes Luís: Tribunal de júri julga casal acusado de matar ex-deputado. Diário de Notícias of July 14, 2016
  10. Ivo Fontes: Abuso sexual de menores. University of Coimbra , January 2006. page 8
  11. a b Mariana Oliveira: Procurador recorda pressões no caso do padre Frederico . In: Público , March 21, 2010. Accessed February 23, 2014.
  12. Preso brasileiro faz 'teste da verdade' na TV. Folha de S. Paulo, April 6, 1995
  13. a b Ribeiro Cardoso: Jardim, a grande fraude. Editorial Caminho 2011, ISBN 9789722124065 . Chapter from Pornografia e homossexualidade on Google Books
  14. Rosário Martins: O escândalo que abalou a Igreja na Madeira. Funchal Notícias , May 25, 2015
  15. a b Heiner Boberski : The angel factory. Theory and Practice of Opus Angelorum. Otto Müller Verlag, Salzburg 1993, p. 289. ISBN 3-7013-0781-4
  16. Heiner Boberski: The angel work. Theory and Practice of Opus Angelorum. Otto Müller Verlag, Salzburg 1993, p. 42
  17. Frederico Marcos da Cunha, "Crúzios quiseram 'crucifiar' Padre Frederico?", In Expresso of January 10, 1993
  18. The History of the Order of the Cross. Canon Regulars of the Holy Cross, accessed on February 23, 2018
  19. Codex Iuris Canonici : Canon 648 - § 1 on the website of the Holy See , undated
  20. a b c Miguel Silva: Padre Frederico: “Não penso regressar, mas podia voltar e rezar missa”. Diário de Notícias of February 13, 2016
  21. a b c d films not preocupa a Igreja. In: Correio da Manhã, November 11, 2002
  22. Natura Público 93rd University of Minho , accessed August 2, 2018
  23. Código penal português, Artigo 132.º Homicídio qualificado g) and Artigo 173.º Actos sexuais com adolescentes 1. – 3. Accessed March 4, 2018
  24. ^ Victor Hugo: Histórico da Diocese. Diário de Notícias of April 11, 2018
  25. a b O Privado em Public. Editora Almedina Brasil, São Paulo 2014. ISBN 978-9724052793
  26. Agência Lusa: Comarca da Madeira com seis processos com tribunal de júri em 30 anos. Diário de Notícias of November 1, 2016
  27. Miguel Fernandes Luís: Mulheres de família foram vítimas dos homicídios deste ano. Diário de Noticias of August 14, 2017
  28. AFP : pédophilie: un portugais prêtre condamné. Le Figaro from December 2, 2013
  29. Eker Sommer: Epitáfio a uma mãe. Diário de Notícias of July 28, 2018
  30. a b c d e Ana Santos: Padre Frederico preso no Brasil - ninguém segura o padre ( Memento of April 7, 2011 in the Internet Archive ), Sol , May 20, 2007.
  31. a b Roberto Ferreira: O silêncio ensurdecedor da Igreja do Funchal. Diário de Notícias, March 13, 2016
  32. Engelwerk denials. In Kirche intern from July 1995, p. 6.
  33. a b c Miguel Fernandes Luís: Padre Frederico escapa ao castigo. ( Memento of March 8, 2018 in the Internet Archive ) Diário de Notícias of March 4, 2018
  34. a b Portugal pede satisfações ao Brasil. Folha de S. Paulo, April 18, 1998
  35. Sinopses Anteriores 04/10/1998. Jornal do Brasil , April 10, 1998
  36. Natália Faria: Bispos portugueses garantem nicht ter denúncias sobre abuso de menores. In: Público , August 22, 2018
  37. Emília Monteiro: Abuso de menores foi "11 de setembro da Igreja Católica". Jornal de Notícias , February 21, 2019
  38. ^ Roberto Ferreira: Um caminho sem retorno. Diário de Notícias, September 2, 2018
  39. Sergio Torres: Padre fugitivo quer trabalhar com carentes. Folha de S. Paulo of April 11, 1998
  40. Bispo do Funchal reconhece práticas pedófilas , Paróquias de Portugal, April 11, 2002. Accessed February 25, 2014
  41. Fabrício Rodrigues: Há 17 anos, “imprudência” do bispo D. Teodoro deixou padres revoltados. Diário de Notícias, April 9, 2019
  42. Ana Vicente: Há 5 anos em Portugal: O movimento 'Nós somos Igreja' ( Memento of September 6, 2014 in the Internet Archive ), We are Church, January 2002, Internet Archive
  43. ^ Bishop Teodoro de Faria on Catholic Hierarchy, undated
  44. a b Padre Frederico: Diocese do Funchal ainda está a estudar hipótese de suspensão. Sol dated February 5, 2017
  45. ^ A b c Carlos Diogo Santos: A nova vida do padre Frederico. . In: Sol of July 24, 2015
  46. Tânia Laranjo e Egídio Carreira: "Não entendo silêncio da Igreja do Funchal". Correio da Manhã, February 24, 2016 (paid article)
  47. Élvio Passos: Investigação do Observador conclui que Igreja portuguesa esconde casos de abusos sexuais incluindo na Madeira. Diário de Notícias, February 15, 2019
  48. ^ António Fontes: O ferrari do padre Giselo. Diário de Notícias, November 19, 2017
  49. a b Jorge Freitas Sousa: Padre Frederico só cumpriu a pena de 'expulsão'. Diário de Notícias of October 22, 2013
  50. Quem paga? Correio da Manhã of December 6, 2002
  51. a b César Príncipe: Ementas do Paraíso. Campo das Letras 2004, p. 269. ISBN 9726108934
  52. Cunha pode ser julgado no Brasil ( Memento of March 22, 2014 in the Internet Archive ), Diário de Pernambuco, April 10, 1998
  53. ^ Carlos Diogo Santos: Alcides Martins. “Os arguidos aqui são muito mais verdadeiros do que no Brasil” In: Sol of March 30, 2018
  54. Padre que cumpria pena em Portugal está no Rio. ( Memento of October 20, 2003 in the Internet Archive ) Jornal do Commercio , Recife , April 10, 1998
  55. Sinopses Anteriores 18/04/1998 Jornal do Brasil of April 18, 1998
  56. Padre condenado foge para o País ( Memento of March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ), A Notícia , April 10, 1998. Accessed on February 25, 2014
  57. a b c Brasil admite trocar padre Frederico por Duarte Lima , Renascença , October 31, 2011; accessed on February 24, 2014.
  58. Eles deram o salto. Correio da Manhã of May 18, 2003
  59. Marinho Pinto: "Se fosse Duarte Lima ia ao Brasil defender-me" , Diário de Notícias , October 28, 2011; accessed on February 24, 2014
  60. Renata Giraldi, Isabel Clemente: Padre preso em Portugal foge para o Brasil. Folha de S. Paulo of April 10, 1998
  61. Sinopses Anteriores 30/08/1998. Jornal do Brasil of August 30, 1998
  62. Padre Frederico: pena pode prescrever em 2018. Sábado from July 24th, 2015 (paid article)
  63. Padre Frederico reitera que nicht é "pedófilo" nem "assassino". In: Notícias ao Minuto , July 24, 2015
  64. Tânia de Laranjo: A vida de luxo do padre Frederico. Correio da Manhã, February 14, 2016 (paid article)
  65. Miguel Fernandes Luís, Roberto Ferreira: Dec mandados de detenção activos na Comarca da Madeira. Diário de Notícias of March 26, 2018
  66. Natália Faria: Abusos sexuais de menores. Padres condenados em Portugal continuam a usar o colarinho clerical. In: Público , August 25, 2018, accessed on January 26, 2019
  67. David Berger: The holy glow. Ullstein eBooks 2013, Item 932 ff. ISBN 978-3-8437-0770-1

Web links