Prosecution Begins for priest and four nuns

The prosecutors in Vaslui county started prosecution against the priest and four nuns of Holy Trinity convent on charges of imprisonment to death of 23-year old Maricica Irina Cornici who was tied to a cross and denied food and drink while being kept in a cold room for three days in a row.

According to first investigations, father Daniel helped by four nuns chained the 23-year old woman to a wooden cross and gagged her in order the cast out the evil, as the priest considered her alleged schizophrenic fits to be the signs of her being possessed.

The priest together with nuns Nicoleta Arcaleanu, Adina Ciopraga, Elena Otelea and Simona Bardanas, are investigated at large by the Prosecutor’s Office under the Vaslui Court over the death of Cornici, with another 24 people having so far been questioned in connection with the case.

A postmortem examination is currently being conducted in order to establish the exact cause of Irina Cornici’s death. Local bishop His Holiness Ioachim Mares banned priest Petru Daniel Corogeanu from performing religious ceremonies in the future.

The measure was taken following investigations conducted by the local bishop office, and is to be maintained until the release of the police investigation’s results into the case. The vicar bishop sent to the Holy Trinity convent on Friday to check into the causes of the tragic event was physically and verbally abused by the nuns defending father Daniel. Both the policemen and the prosecutor who went to the convent to investigate into the case were hampered by the nuns and the priest from doing their duty, which eventually required the
intervention of the Vaslui Rapid Reaction Force and the gendarmes. Ionel Bratianu, a social worker at the Vaslui Child Protection Authority, said Irina Cornici, who died following the alleged exorcism ritual, was mentally balanced and had no symptoms resembling those invoked by father Daniel Corogeanu.

The nun, who grew up in an orphanage since the age of 3, graduated the local high school and then worked as a baby-sitter for two years in Germany, where she took care of two children. “Before leaving Romania, she underwent a psychological examination which proved she suffered from no mental illness, as claimed by father Daniel”, said Bratianu. Irina Cornici arrived at the convent three months before the tragic event, having initially gone there to visit a friend and then opted to stay.