Argentina court overturns ex-nun's sex abuse acquittal

An Argentinian court has overturned the acquittal of Kumiko Kosaka, a former nun charged in a child sex abuse case involving deaf children at the Provolo Institute of Mendoza.

The Supreme Court of Justice of Mendoza province reversed Kosaka's 2023 acquittal and authorized a lower court to determine her punishment. Plaintiff's attorney Sergio Salinas said the 51-year-old Japanese national could now face up to 50 years in prison.

A sentencing date has not been set.

Kosaka had been charged with aggravated sexual abuse and covering up crimes at the Provolo Institute, a free boarding school for underprivileged children with hearing and speech difficulties in Lujan de Cuyo.

Allegations in the case first surfaced in 2016. Two priests at the institute were jailed for more than 40 years each in 2019 for sexual abuse, including rape, of some 20 minors. A school gardener and an altar boy were also convicted of sex crimes and sentenced to prison.

The crimes were committed between 2004 and 2016 and involved victims aged between four and 17.

Eight other female employees of the school, including another nun, had also faced criminal charges and were acquitted at their 2023 trial. The Mendoza court upheld their acquittals in Friday's decision.