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8:20pm Sunday 27th December 2009
A PRIEST has flown to Albania to speak on behalf of a Blackburn charity worker accused of abusing orphans.
But Rev Bernard Cocker said that he believeed his mission was in vain because the Albanian legal system was flawed and his friend was 'sure to be convicted'.
Dino Christodoulou is set to spend his third Christmas behind bars awaiting the conclusion of his trail in the New Year.
And bosses at Amnesty International backed Rev Cocker's fears, saying that the courts in Albania were not fully transparent and that prison conditions amounted in some instances to 'inhuman and degrading treatment'.
There have also been calls in the former eastern Bloc country to tackle alleged corruption in the legal system.
Rev Cocker even claimed Christodoulou had been offered the chance to pay a £1,000 bribe to free himself, something that he rejected.
Christodoulou, 45, is facing 20 years in prison if convicted of abusing four orphans, one aged just four, at the His Children Orphanage in the Albanian capital Tirana.
David Brown, 57, a charity worker from Edinburgh, is serving 20 years in prison in Albania after he was found guilty last year of sexually abusing children at the orphanage. Brown had founded the His Children Orphanage.
Rev Cocker said: "There is no justice in Albania. He is guilty by association. No evidence that has been presented at the court would stand up in a British court.
"The way the case has been presented in Albania has been shocking. There have been pages of negative items but when I spoke in court all of the reporters left.
"There has even been a song in the charts called 'Hang Dino'. It is appalling.
"I am certain that he will be found guilty."
Christodoulou is charged with ‘sexual or homosexual relations with minors’ on four children during 2003 and 2005 along with Robin Arnold, 56, of Norfolk, when they were working as caretakers at the centre in Tirana.
Friends from East Lancashire churches launched a ‘Dino is innocent’ campaign’ when he was extradited . Last October, the Lancashire Telegraph was given a letter Christodoulou had written from his cell in which he protested his innocence, but predicted he would find it difficult to prove it before an Albanian court.
Judges, rather than a jury, will decide if he is innocent or guilty .
lencho, blackburn says...
12:35pm Mon 28 Dec 09
workaholic, Accrington says...
1:20pm Mon 28 Dec 09
RAyzer, BURNLEY says...
2:57pm Mon 28 Dec 09
Izenears, Blackburn says...
6:34pm Mon 28 Dec 09
sn0m, exeter says...
7:13pm Mon 28 Dec 09
albanian, paris,france says...
8:52pm Mon 28 Dec 09
albanian, paris,france says...
9:03pm Mon 28 Dec 09
albanian, paris,france says...
9:06pm Mon 28 Dec 09
Tosh67, Blackburn says...
8:22pm Tue 29 Dec 09
albanian wrote:our clergy are on the same level as our labour politicians - seedy,lying,thieivin
http://lajme.shqiper ia.com/kerko/kerkimi thjeshte/termi/Pedof ili more than 3000 photos have been found there,.Your reverend is still saying that nothing Happen!!!
moggy669, darwen says...
9:31am Wed 30 Dec 09
mazx4, blackburn says...
4:33pm Thu 31 Dec 09
bwithd, bwithd says...
5:01pm Fri 1 Jan 10
BESI, Tirana says...
1:44am Thu 14 Jan 10
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powerpop, Cork says...
9:43am Mon 28 Dec 09