Chilean Ex-Jesuit saved by statute of limitation but Court declares he was a sexual abuse perpetrator

 The 34th Court of Santiago on Tuesday issued a full and final dismissal of the investigation into the sexual abuse of a minor against Chilean priest Felipe Berríos due to the statute of limitations, although it confirmed that the incidents occurred.

"After conducting the full analysis and taking into account the presumption of innocence of the accused and the credibility of the complaint, a single incident involving a single victim that occurred in August 2000 was proven," the court ruling reads.

The ruling specifies that the priest committed "acts of significant and sexual connotation against the victim"—who was 15 years old at the time—and rules that "the described incident constitutes an act of evident sexual violation, directly affecting the protected legal right. This account appears to be fundamentally consistent with the other evidence incorporated into the case."

"The victim's statements are fundamentally consistent with the witness statements and other documentary evidence incorporated during the course of the investigation. All of these, analyzed according to sound judgment, allow us to establish the elements of the criminal offense of sexual abuse of a person over 12 years of age (...), an offense provided for and punishable by Article 366 in conjunction with Article 361 No. 1, both of the Penal Code in force at the time of the events," the investigation concludes.

The case, however, was dismissed "totally and definitively" because "the criminal liability of the accused, Felipe Hernán Berríos del Solar, had been extinguished due to the statute of limitations on the criminal action."

Felipe Berríos, a Chilean priest, activist, and writer, founder of various organizations such as Techo and Infocap, was embroiled in the scandal in 2022 due to various allegations against him of sexual abuse of seven women, who were between 14 and 23 years old at the time of the events.

For these accusations, Berríos was suspended from the priesthood, although in June 2023 the Public Prosecutor's Office ended the investigation against him after the Prosecutor's Office decided not to pursue the matter further.

In May 2024, he was expelled from the Society of Jesus, of which he was a member, and was also prohibited from "all pastoral contact with minors for a period of 10 years."

"He is guilty of crimes against the Sixth Commandment committed with minors and of crimes of solicitation to sin against the Sixth Commandment, during or on the occasion of confession," the Society of Jesus statement detailed.

Felipe Berríos has always denied the charges against him, including the one now proven by the courts.

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