Raid on Belgian Church Declared Illegal

(September 11, 2010) The appeals court in Brussels ruled that a raid on the archbishopric was illegal, and the documents seized must be returned. The Belgian police raided the headquarters of the Archdiocese of Malines-Brussels, where the bishops of Belgium were meeting for their monthly meeting on June 24. The authorities detained the bishops at the headquarters for nine hours as they searched the offices and the Cathedral of Mechelen. At that time they drilled holes in two graves located in the crypt of the cathedral, and then sent cameras down in search of hidden documents. In addition to the headquarters of the archbishopric of Brussels, the authorities seized some 500 confidential files In Leuven, Belgium, from the office of Peter Adriaensses, president of the commission for the treatment of sexual abuses. The home of former archbishop of Brussels, Cardinal Godfried Danneels, was also searched. On Thursday, the Belgian court ruled that these measures were "disproportionate," and that the documents collected could not be considered as valid evidence in any trial. The judge ordered that the material be returned to the owners without passing under the eyes of prosecutors. A communiqué from the archdiocese reported that Archbishop André-Joseph Léonard "hopes that all the attention will finally be concentrated on the victims of the sexual abuses in the context of a pastoral relationship." He noted that he "is satisfied by the fact that this event was finally clarified," and "in the interest of all, that the fundamental rules of law are respected."