Former Catholic priest Bernardino Batista dos Santos was sentenced to 24 years and nine months in prison by a court in Minas Gerais for the rape of an underage person, a document obtained by The Associated Press showed on Jan. 9.
The Associated Press reported that the sentence came in a ruling issued earlier this week, although the case remains sealed.
The AP said the 22-page court document also ordered dos Santos, 78, to pay 30,000 Brazilian reais in damages to the person.
Dos Santos’ lawyer, Leonardo Diniz, said in a short statement that he was shocked by the court’s decision and would appeal it.
The Associated Press said the Archdiocese of Belo Horizonte removed dos Santos from his position in Contagem in 2021 after dozens of complaints going back to 1975. The AP reported that the conviction is based on a single case in 2016 after Brazil changed its statutes of limitation in similar cases.
According to Minas Gerais authorities cited by the AP, dos Santos was first arrested in October 2024 and later moved to house arrest with electronic ankle monitoring.
Lawyer Ana Carolina Oliveira, who the AP reported works for more than 60 people she said were allegedly raped by dos Santos, said the court’s decision recognizes the seriousness of the actions committed, the particular vulnerability of the underage victim, and the profound impact of the violations.
Oliveira also said, “No social, institutional, or religious position can serve as a shield for impunity in crimes of this nature.”
The AP reported that a Minas Gerais state police investigation showed that the family of the underage person accused dos Santos of rape during a weekend at a farm in the city of Tiros, and that at the time dos Santos was the director of a kindergarten in Belo Horizonte.