Dutch prosecutors said Tuesday they had opened an inquest into
the deaths of young boys at a psychiatric institute run by the Catholic
Church in the 1950s after investigators reported unusually high
mortality rates.
A commission probing sex abuse allegations
against Roman Catholic clergy said it had found higher than normal death
rates among minors from the institute in Heel, situated in the
southeastern Netherlands.
"The Deetman commission has found several deaths which raised questions," said the commission in a statement.
"The
information concerns a number of deaths of minors that was above the
average for the period covering the years 1952, 1953 and 1954," the
statement added.
It said the Dutch prosecution service had been
informed of the findings, but did not say whether it thought the
allegations were linked to sexual abuse.
In a separate statement,
prosecutors said 34 boys under the age of 18 died during the years in
question, an "above normal" rate, adding that it was opening an inquest
into the case.
Prosecutors however added should they discover
"facts punishable by law" they would not be able to move on the case,
because it would fall beyond the date prosecutable under Dutch law.
"The
suspect deaths happened 55 years ago. Therefore there cannot be any
enforcement," the statement said, adding that prosecutors opened the
inquest because of the impact the incident have on the community.
The
Deetman commission was set up by the Dutch church last year to prove
allegations of abuse in the Netherlands from 1945 onwards amid a
widening paedophile priest scandal affecting several countries in Europe
and elsewhere.