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Cardinal George Pell has had his child sexual abuse convictions reversed.
The ex-Vatican treasurer, 78, was the most senior Catholic figure ever imprisoned for such criminal offenses.
In 2018, a jury discovered he abused two young boys in Melbourne in the 1990 s.
But the High Court of Australia quashed that verdict on Tuesday, bringing an immediate end to Cardinal Pell’s six-year prison sentence.
A complete bench of seven judges ruled unanimously in Cardinal Pell’s favour, discovering the jury had actually not appropriately thought about all the proof provided at the trial.
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Cardinal Pell left prison a few hours after the decision was bied far.
” I have regularly preserved my innocence while suffering from a serious injustice,” Cardinal Pell stated in a statement after the choice.
He was released from Victoria’s Barwon Jail quickly after midday regional time (02: 00 GMT) and driven to a Carmelite Monastery in Melbourne, local media stated.
In December 2018, a jury found him guilty of sexually abusing two 13- year-old choir young boys in personal rooms of St Patrick’s Cathedr