Victims of Father Ribes have made themselves known in recent days in the dioceses of Lyon (Rhône), Saint-Etienne (Loire) and Grenoble-Vienne (Isère), where the priest had notably officiated. Louis Ribes, who died in 1994, is suspected of having sexually assaulted many children, whom he posed naked.
In Lyon, a dozen testimonies join those of two victims who made themselves known in 202, reports Progress, while in Saint-Etienne, nine people were added to the five victims who had testified on January 18. In Vienna, victims and their relatives came to testify at the parish house of Saint-Maurice on January 26.
A report to the Lyon prosecutor
Friday, January 27, the diocese of Lyon reported to the public prosecutor of Lyon the charges of sexual assault on minors designating Father Ribes. “From the moment we identified living witnesses of part of the facts, we made a report to the public prosecutor of Lyon”, declared the diocese at BFM Lyon.
Father Ribes, nicknamed “the Picasso of churches”, had children pose naked to paint them, before abusing them. While his works are removed from the churches where he made stained glass, investigators are looking for sketches that can serve as evidence. Gold, France 3 Auvergne Rhône-Alpes specifies that when Father Ribes died in 1994, his child pornography drawings had been destroyed by a priest and a lay person from the Vienne-Estressin seminary, who had been horrified by their content.