UPDATED:: Victims of a Christian sect led by an ex-Nazi seek justice

UPDATE::  German investigators in Chile over Nazi pedophile sect, as leader remains free

A German delegation was in Chile on Tuesday to learn more about the ongoing investigation into Colonia Dignidad, a notorious Nazi pedophile sect founded by German immigrants in the 1960s.

Judge Mario Carroza held nearly two hours of talks with German prosecutors and representatives of the justice ministry on Monday, updating them on the Chilean probe into the sect’s leaders, judicial officials said.

The visit comes as German courts are mulling an appeal filed by Dr Hartmut Hopp, a central figure in the scandal who fled Chile in 2011 after being convicted of complicity in 16 cases of child abuse.

When ex-Nazi paedophile Paul Schäfer, above, fled from Germany in 1959 after being charged with child abuse, the lay preacher established  ‘one of the worst sects in the history of humanity – a stupid, fanatical Christianity.’

That’s the description of Colonia Dignidad provided by Winfried Hempel, who escaped the abusive sect 18 years ago.

According to this report, Hempel, now a lawyer, is heading a lawsuit against the German and Chilean states for the suffering he and other youngsters endured in the Colonia Dignidad commune.

Hempel, 38, alleges that both countries allowed the abuse to happen at the ironically named “Dignity Camp”, originally set up to deliver Christian charity to the local communities

Before his death at the age of 88 in a Chilean prison in 2010, Schäfer collaborated with the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet, whose secret police used the colony as a place to torture opponents.

Hempel is bringing a joint lawsuit on behalf of 120 former residents of the colony who blame the Chilean state for allowing it to operate for years, during which time they say numerous victims were abused and enslaved.

The Freethinker - The voice of atheism since 1881 » Victims of a Christian sect led by an ex-Nazi seek justice

Chile: pedophile priest defies Vatican order - The Washington Post

A prominent Chilean priest who was ordered by the Vatican to never again celebrate a public Mass as punishment for sexually abusing altar boys has been photographed apparently defying the order.

Chile’s top church leaders confirmed the Rev. Fernando Karadima’s act of insubordination Friday and sent the case to the Vatican for investigation. The photos were taken Dec. 4, but they were only released this week by Juan Carlos Cruz, a journalist and one of Karadima’s victims.

“It’s a very painful situation that shows that this priest continues to do as he pleases,” Cruz told The Associated Press. “It’s a slap in the face for the victims of his abuse. He should be in jail but instead he’s still being protected by the church.”

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The Vatican sanctioned Karadima by ordering him to a life of “penitence and prayer” in 2011. He was also barred from celebrating Mass in public, from hearing confessions or offering spiritual direction and from having contact with his ex-parishioners. A Chilean judge later dismissed a criminal case because the statute of limitations had expired, but she determined the abuse allegations were truthful.

Chile: pedophile priest defies Vatican order - The Washington Post