The Limburg Prosecutor’s Office has opened an investigation into allegations of child abuse by nuns at St. Vincent's Convent in the village of Zelem, near Halen. The allegations are made in a four-part documentary ‘De Nonnen’ (The Nuns) made by the commercial broadcaster VTM. The Prosecutor’s Office already opened an investigation into the convent in 2011 after a person alleged that they had been abused by nuns there in the 1950s.
Limburg prosecutors open investigation into abuse by nuns at Saint-Vincent’s Convent
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In VTM’s documentary series ‘De Nonnen’ that will be broadcast this autumn, 14 victims tell of how they suffered physical, sexual and psychological abuse at the hands of the nuns that were supposed to care for them. The documentary describes a reign of terror that was prevalent at the convent during the 1970s.
The Limburg Public Prosecutor's Office has now decided to launch an investigation ex officio. In statement the Public Prosecutor’s Office says that "As far as we know, no complaints have been filed yet. The decision to launch an investigation is purely based on the documentary and the seriousness of the allegations that have surfaced."
Not the first investigation
This isn't the first time that an investigation has been opened into the convent. In 2011 an investigation was launched after a Limburg man testified that he had been sexual abused by nuns in the adjacent orphanage. The abuse occurred between 1957 and 1959, when he was between 10 and 12 years old. The Prosecutor’s Office cannot yet say whether the investigation opened in 2011 has led anywhere.
The VTM documentary series focuses on abuse in the 1970s. The orphanage at Saint-Vincent’s Convent closed in 1978.