The Russian Orthodox Church sticks up to restrict punishment for pedophilia

31 January 2008, 14:29

Moscow, January 31, Interfax – The Russian Orthodox Church urges to make criminal penalty for pedophilia and kid pornography more ‘tough and inevitable.’

‘A person who is capable of raping a child should be isolated from society securely and for a long time, preferably forever. We should radically change our attitude to such crimes,’ deputy head of the Moscow Patriarchate Department for External Church Relations Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin told Interfax-Religion on Thursday.

Thus he commented the situation with St. Petersburg resident and former boxer Alexander Kuznetsov, who beat to death a 20-year-old rapist after he had attacked his minor-aged step-son. Kuznetsov is on remand now; he is accused of malicious injury that recklessly caused victim’s death.

According to the priest, Kuznetsov’s actions ‘are understandable.’ The interviewee of the agency consider it appalling that ‘there are people in our society who are capable of such dirty crimes,’ as this rapist-pedophile who attacked an eight-year old boy.

‘I hope that our legal system and its practice will be suchlike as not to dispose to impinging upon a child,’ Fr. Vsevolod stated stressing that it is not the first year when representatives of the Church, general public and professional legal experts speak for ‘making punishment for pedophilia and kid pornography tough and inevitable’

.According to him, ‘those who profits from sexual exploitation of children and kid pornography should not feel unpunished.’

‘Neither delicacy nor indulgence are applicable to such people, they should be punished. In this case parents will not have to face such a tragic, terrible choice like the boy’s father,’ Fr. Vsevolod said.

SOURCE: