Today, the Tarnów district court heard the final arguments in the case of Bishop. Andrzej Jeż. The prosecutor's office accuses him of failing to immediately notify law enforcement authorities about the sexual abuse of minors by two priests under his command - Stanisław P. and Tomasz K.
"There are no reasons that could justify hiding pedophilia"
The prosecutor asked for the priest to be sentenced to 10 months in prison, suspended for three years, and PLN 20,000. PLN fine.
Prosecutor Marcin Stępień left no doubt as to the assessment of the bishop's act. There are no reasons that could justify hiding pedophilia. If someone believes that they did it for the good of their own environment or out of fear of criticism from society, they deserve punishment even more - he emphasized in his final speech.
According to the prosecutor's office, the bishop's guilt and the social harm of his omission are significant. Law enforcement authorities were informed about the priests' crimes only more than three years after the regulations imposing such an obligation came into force. In the case of Fr. Stanisław P. was reported only after the publication of the article by Fr. Isakowicz-Zaleski, who revealed the problem.
Prosecutor Stępień pointed out that the bishop's omission had serious consequences. The omission committed by Bishop Andrzej Jeż by not reporting the crime when the amendment entered into force resulted in the acts of a sexual nature committed by Fr. P. committed crimes against 23 boys under 15 years of age, the statute of limitations has expired. Victims will no longer be able to pursue their rights in court in any way, he said.
The prosecutor also emphasized that the bishop's statements lacked an apology and expression of remorse. There are no such words there, but we could hear general declarations about how bad the phenomenon of pedophilia is and that we need to fight it. This is obvious to each of us, he added.
"You can't judge from the perspective of today's knowledge"
The bishop's lawyers argued to the court that their client was not obliged to report crimes that occurred before the amendment to the law came into force in 2017. The accused cannot be assessed from the perspective of subsequent knowledge and interpretation of the law. Therefore, the only conclusion that, according to the defense, is a motion to acquit the accused of both acts - argued attorney Zbigniew Ćwiąkalski.
The defense also pointed out that other people and institutions - the school, the school board, the commune - knew about the actions of Father Stanisław P., and yet no action was taken. Harm to minors obviously requires a response, there is no doubt about it, but the seriousness of the scale of this harm requires an equally high standard when determining the responsibility of other people. And justice is not about finding someone to convict in every dramatic story, it is about convicting only the one who can actually be blamed, said lawyer Paulina Majtkowska.
Dispute over the interpretation of the law
The key controversial issue in the process was the interpretation of the regulations introduced in 2017. The defense argued that until the Supreme Court's resolution of 2022, it was not clear whether the obligation to report crimes also applies to acts before the amendment. The Supreme Court ruled that yes - and it is on this basis that the prosecutor's office demands that the bishop be punished.
Additionally, defense lawyers pointed to jurisdictional doubts - some of the acts took place outside Poland, mainly in Ukraine. In the case of Father Tomasz K., the bishop was convinced that the victims were adults, and after obtaining new information, the case was reported to the police.
The trial of Bishop Andrzej Jeż began in February this year. This is the first case in Poland in which a Church hierarch was put on trial for failing to report sexual crimes committed by clergy under his command.
The bishop pleaded not guilty. In his explanations, he explained that only when he was reported by the curia did he have reliable information about the crimes, and earlier law enforcement agencies had been informed about cases of sexual abuse of clergy.
