According to a report by BBCL Investiga, while the minister of the Court of Appeals of Arica, Reynaldo Oliva Lagos, was serving as a judge of the Oral Criminal Trial Court of Concepción and, at the same time, deacon of the archdiocese, he had different conversations of a sexual nature with minors.
The earthquake that shook the judiciary, after BBCL Investiga revealed multiple cases of sexual harassment and abuse, would include the minister of the Court of Appeals of Arica, Reynaldo Oliva Lagos, accused of sexual abuse.
As detailed in the report, while Oliva served as a former judge of the Oral Criminal Trial Court of Concepción and, also, as a deacon of the archdiocese, he had different interactions of a sexual nature with minors.
After these facts came to light, various events took place. Plenary session of Supreme Court It was decided to notify the North Central Metropolitan Prosecutor’s Office to report on the status of the criminal investigation against Reynaldo Oliva.
Likewise, Francesca Muñoz, deputy of the Social Christian Party and president of the Family Commission, assured that “if the accusations are proven, it is doubtful why the judge was appointed as minister of the Court of Appeals of Arica, if there were already antecedents that showed misbehavior and even investigations were carried out against him.”
“For this reason, I will be raising this at the Family Commission, so that we can learn in detail the protocols and procedures that were activated by Erica’s appeals court and the Supreme Court upon hearing this serious complaint.”
Along the same lines, the plenary session of ministers of the Arica Court of Appeals decided to open a disciplinary investigation against Judge Oliva.
Irregularities in the judiciary due to a “religious” judge
On the other hand, it is considered that there may have been alleged irregularities in the judiciary, which determined the appointment of Judge Reinaldo Oliva Lagos.
According to Article 236 of the Organic Code of the Courts, “Those who have received major ecclesiastical orders may not be judges.” Also, Article 332 states that “the office of judge ceases upon the receipt of major ecclesiastical orders,” and ordination as a deacon would fall into this category.
Despite this, to this day there will be no major and minor orders in the Catholic Church, although the diaconate will be a third holy order, with the same powers as the first.
Crime and consequences
For Héctor Arancibia, lawyer for the Amparo and Justice Foundation, “when a person commits acts of sexual significance with respect to a juvenile, abusing a relationship of dependency, which is considered the crime of sexual exploitation under any modality of the crime. In the case of rape, it is also possible that in turn the crime of exposing minors to acts of sexual significance may also be included.”
Meanwhile, for Alejandra Riveros, executive director of Fundación para la Confianza, “when one talks about abuse against a child in the area of sexuality, people think it must be like rape (…) It “could be” something like what we are talking about and, it could also leave psychological impact on this child.”
Check all details in full note.