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WORLD NEWS Wednesday 15 May 2019

Poland airs tougher sex abuse penalties amid church crisis

Associated Press The statue in Lichen, a town
WARSAW, Poland (AP) — in central Poland, depicts
Poland’s prime minister on Makulski on his knees, hold-
Tuesday vowed tougher ing a model of the church
punishments for those who he had built, a giant ba-
sexually abuse minors af- silica that was consecrated
ter a new film spurred the in 2004 and is now a major
country into grappling with pilgrimage site.
the problem of abuse by His Marian order issued a
priests. statement after the docu-
The documentary “Tell No mentary was released say-
One” has triggered soul ing Makulski had been re-
searching in the deeply lieved of performing any
Catholic country since it pastoral activities and
was released Saturday on evidence of his abuse had
YouTube. been sent to the Vatican.
It contains harrowing testi- “The suffering of victims of
mony by men and women pedophilia committed by
of being molested and the people of the Church
raped by priests. fills us with deep pain. Noth-
Prime Minister Mateusz ing can compensate them
Morawiecki held a news for this harm,” the Marians
conference in Warsaw with of the Immaculate Con-
Justice Minister Zbigniew People stand in the Temple of Divine Providence, a major church in the Polish capital, on Monday ception said in a statement.
Ziobro to talk about new May 13, 2019. The documentary, made
legislation the government Associated Press by two brothers, features
drafted to more severely minor, making it 30 years in- especially pedophilia, will statue of a priest kneeling detailed accounts from
punish the abuse of minors. stead of 12. be even more stigmatized before the late Pope John Poles who say being sexu-
The bill, which must be It also would define a minor than it is now,” Morawiecki Paul II. According to the ally abused by a clergy
approved by parliament, as children age 16 and un- told reporters. documentary, the 91-year- member ruined their child-
would more than double der, instead of 15. In other fallout from the film, old priest, Rev. Eugeniusz hoods. One attempted
the maximum prison sen- “Every degenerate, dis- Catholic Church authorities Makulski, allegedly com- suicide, another became
tence for sexual abusing a gusting, cruel, bestial crime, on Tuesday covered up a mitted child sex abuse. anorexic.q

Floods renew fear in Bosnia; boy missing after fall in creek

By ELDAR EMRIC said, his voice trembling. areas urged residents living
Associated Press “We also went in and close to rivers to evacuate
BEGOV HAN, Bosnia-Herze- searched....We couldn’t their homes and launched
govina (AP) — A 6-year-old find him. We don’t know emergency measures to
boy who fell into a swollen where he is, if he was swept respond to the rising flood
creek on his bicycle re- away ... or he is still some- waters.
mained missing after floods where in the creek.” A number of schools can-
hit parts of Bosnia on Tues- Rescue teams in the central celed classes, while elec-
day, raising fears the Bal- village of Begov Han spent tricity and water supplies
kan country could see a re- hours looking for the boy were disrupted. Landslides
peat of the record flooding and found the bicycle be- closed local roads.
that killed at least 23 peo- fore calling off the search Officials across Bosnia
ple and affected about a for the day, local media re- sought to dispel alarm
third of the population five ported. northern Bosnia was at risk
years ago. Torrential rains that started for the kind of destruction
The child was riding over a This aerial photo shows flooded neighborhood in Sanski Most, on Sunday caused rivers in it suffered when the heavi-
small wooden bridge out- Bosnia-Herzegovina, Tuesday, May 14, 2019. northwestern and central est rain ever recorded
side his home when he fell Associated Press Bosnia to break their banks, drenched southeast Eu-
into the water along with told The Associated Press. him. She jumped into the flooding homes and roads. rope for days in mid-May
his bike, the boy’s uncle “His mother tried to save water,” Sanel Meseljevic Local authorities in several 2014.q