Ángel Moyano is the Executive Director of the Secular Humanist Society of Peru and is currently serving a sentence behind bars in a Peruvian maximum security prison, although he is innocent. His only ‘crime’ was to have an asshole priest of a neighbor.
It all started when Moyano and his wife bought some land and built their home there. When the construction ended, they had the dubious honor of knowing their neighbor, Giuseppe Cressano, a Catholic priest who complained to them for allegedly having appropriated part of his land. The priest’s aggressiveness escalated to the point that Moyano and his wife had to file for restraining orders to avoid physical attacks from the religionist.
Moyano requested the inspection of the premises, so when that visit took place he went to notify Cressano, who greeted him with Christian love in the form of insults and throwing stones at him, deepening the strife between them. Moyano yelled at the priest in response, got back to his home, and forgot the issue.
Six months later, Moyano was sentenced to prison for slander.
The judge, Flora Trevejos, condemned Moyano based solely on the testimony of Cressano (!) with no material evidence whatsoever to substantiate the ruling. Worst of all is that Cressano accused his victim of libel for allegedly spreading the rumor that Cressano is pederast… that rumor had started by 2006, when the priest was accused of rape and sexual abuse!
To make matters worse, the Peruvian Church has no knowledge of any priest by the name of Giuseppe Cressano — according to Catholic blog Crux Sancta, Cressano was defrocked. The priest has not let that stop him, so he performs Mass and every time asks for double tithing.
The appeal hearing is September 8. Although there is not much we can do, I invite you to share this post on social media so that more people know about the injustice against Moyano — you can also contact the corresponding Peruvian embassies and consulates to demand Moyano’s rights to presumption of innocence, defense, natural judge and due process are guaranteed this time.
(via Francisco Mercader | image: Panorama)
