Former priest Bernard Preynat died this Sunday June 23 at the age of 79.
He was sentenced in 2020 to five years in prison for sexual assault on minors committed between 1971 and 1991.
Former priest Bernard Preynat died this Sunday, June 23 at the age of 79, the prosecution announced. He was sentenced in 2020 by the Lyon criminal court to five years in prison for sexual assault on minors committed between 1971 and 1991 in the diocese of Lyon. He was found dead in his bathroom at his home in Saint-Étienne.
An investigation into the causes of death has been opened. “even if there is nothing suspicious on his body, which will be examined by a forensic doctor within a few days”specified the prosecution, confirming information from BFM Lyon.
The first complaints filed in 2015
It was in 2015 that the first complaints were filed by former scouts abused at the time by the chaplain of Sainte-Foy-lès-Lyon (Rhône). Maintained in office by the diocese of Lyon until the fall of 2015 when his actions had been known for a long time, Bernard Preynat asked for forgiveness from the victims who came to testify about their suffering during the trial, while minimizing the facts. Many others were unable to file a complaint due to the statute of limitations. During his trial, Bernard Preynat made chilling confessions and detailed the frequency of sexual touching: “It happened every weekend, and during camp it could be four or five kids in a week.”
Convicted at first instance in 2019 for his silence on the affair, Cardinal Philippe Barbarin was then acquitted on appeal, but resigned from his functions as archbishop of Lyon. At first instance, the judges considered that by not reporting to the courts the acts which had been reported to him by a victim of Bernard Preynat in 2014, Philippe Barbarin had chosen to “preserve the institution”.
