Pedophile Priest Sentenced To 14 Years In Prison After Extradition

A priest in Russia was convicted on charges of pedophilia and sentenced to 14 years in prison Wednesday.

A court in Priozersk — a city in northwest Russia —sentenced 38-year-old Gleb Grozovsky for sexually molesting underage girls in recreational camps in Russia and Greece while he was a priest at a cathedral in Tsarskoye Selo outside of St. Petersburg.

According to reports, he sexually assaulted two girls, aged 9 and 12, at a religious-themed youth camp on the Greek island of Kos in 2013.

He also committed "a range of similar crimes in St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Region" between 2011 and 2013, according to Russia's Investigative Committee, Moscow Times reported.

Following the incidents Grozovsky was suspended from the Russian Orthodox Church. He then fled to Israel in 2013 purportedly on church business.

Following his departure he was put on the international most wanted list, and Russia asked Israel to extradite him in 2013. He lived in Israel for three years before being extradited to Russia.

The extradition process was delayed as his lawyer appealed to the Israeli Supreme Court, claiming his life would be endangered if he was sent to Russia. Grozovsky also applied for Israeli citizenship, which was denied and he was asked to leave the country.

Grozovsky's trial lasted for seven months in a closed court, and the press was allowed only on the day of his sentencing.

In addition to his sentence, he was ordered to pay 400,000 rubles (about $7,000) to each of the victims as "compensation of moral damages," Russian Legal Information Agency reported.

Priests abusing children has become so widespread that even Pope Francis on his recent visit to Chile apologized for the "irreparable damage" the victims have suffered.

The scale of the abuse was apparent from figures revealed last year by a royal commission investigating abuse by Catholic priests in Australia. The commission said around seven percent of priests had engaged in sexual abuse of children between 1950 and 2010. Close to 4,500 children were said to have been victims of sexual abuse within Catholic institutions over the past 35 years, reports said.

The Vatican revealed that 848 priests who had raped or molested children were defrocked in the 3,400 cases of abuse reported between 2004 and 2014, while 2,573 received lesser punishments, according to a report from CBS News from May 7, 2014.

What is more worrying than incidents of abuse is attempts by the church to shield the perpetrators.

In May 2003, Thomas O’Brien, then bishop of the Diocese of Phoenix admitted to sheltering at least 50 priests accused of molesting children by shuffling them to different parishes across the state.

O' Brien acknowledged he "allowed Roman Catholic priests under my supervision to work with minors after becoming aware of allegations of sexual misconduct."

Following the admission of guilt a lawsuit was filed against Obrien for sexually molesting boys in his parish from 1977 to 1982. The suit alleges mass cover-up by the church dating back to the 1950s, USA today reported.

Given the history of cover-ups by church authorities to shield sexual abuse perpetrators, it is hardly baffling that Grozovsky sought asylum in Israel in hopes that the church will protect him against his crimes.