France won't extradite retired priest Johannes Rivoire, accused of sexually abusing Inuit children
CBC
France will not extradite a priest facing historical sexual assault charges in Nunavut, but there's still a chance he could be prosecuted in Canada by other means.
A news release Wednesday from the Public Prosecution Service of Canada (PPSC) says French authorities denied the extradition request for Johannes Rivoire on Oct. 14.
The extradition request was made by the federal Department of Justice on behalf of the PPSC.
French authorities said there are two reasons the request is being denied.
The first relates to French law — France can't extradite its own citizens.
"France has determined that at the relevant time Mr. Rivoire was a citizen of France," the release said.
The second reason, which also falls under French law, is because "too much time" passed between the events and the charges being laid.
That's also the reason French authorities said they could not prosecute Rivoire in France.
Rivoire was charged this past February with one count of indecent assault on a female, who was child at the time of the alleged offence. It happened between January 1974 and December 1979.
Allegations against him date much further back, though — previous charges against him had been outstanding for years but were stayed in 2017.
People in Nunavut have spent nearly two decades pushing for Rivoire to be extradited.
An Inuit delegation travelled to France in September to implore French officials to grant Canada's extradition request. They also confronted the retired priest while there.
Tanya Tungilik, who was part of the delegation and whose father Marius Tungilik had accused Rivoire of sexual abuse, said at the time it was "liberating" to finally tell Rivoire the things she has wanted to say for so long.
In an interview with CBC Wednesday, she called the denied extradition request "a gut punch" but not totally shocking.
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