Sentence passed in Tanacu case
Former Priest Petru Corogeanu From The Tanacu Monastery, In Vaslui County, Was Convicted And Sentenced Yesterday To 14 Years In Prison And The Four Nuns Received Sentences From 5 To 8 Years For Illegal Deprivation Of Freedom Resulting In The Death Of The Victim, Nun Irina Cornici.
Vaslui – The Vaslui Court House sustained the charge brought by the Prosecution against the five defendants in the case – illegal deprivation of freedom followed by the death of the victim, nun Irina Cornici.
Daniel Petru Corogeanu was sentenced to 14 years in prison and the ex mother superior of the nunnery in Tanacu, Nicoleta Arcalianu, received a eight-year sentence on the same count. The other three nuns – Adina Cepraga, Simona Bardanas and Ela Otel – received a five-year sentence each.
The Court also granted the request made by the mother of the victim and ordered RON 4,700 in civil damages and RON 5,000 in moral damages against the five and the Husi Archbishopric joint and severally. The Court declined the request of the victim’s mother for the payment of EUR 4,500 she claimed Irina Cornici had lent to a family in Caras Severin.
The sentence passed on Monday can be appealed against within ten days.
On May 19, 2006, priest Petru Corogeanu and the four nuns from the ‘Saint Trinity’ nunnery in Tanacu were referred to Court under the charge of causing the death of nun Irina Cornici.
The first Court date in the Tanacu case was on June 28, 2006, appreciatively a year after 23-year old nun Irina Cornici had died a cruel death at the Tanacu nunnery in Vaslui County, having been crucified for three days without food or water.
The High Court Prosecution accused priest Petru Daniel Corogeanu and nun Nicoleta Sofia Arcalianu, Adina Lucia Cepreaga, Simona Bardanas and Elena Otel of illegal deprivation of freedom resulting in the death of nun Maricica Irina Cornici.
Priest Corogeanu and the four nuns are believed to have sequestered Irina Cornici and tied her hands and legs with rope; they have explained that they had to do that in order to exorcise the young woman. On June 13, 2005, because of the violent behaviour of Irina Cornici, they tied her up with chains to a wooden cross and garrotted her with a towel. The nun was kept tied up to the cross for there days with no food and water on a porch where it was chilly and she died three days later.
According to a communiqué released at the time, the autopsy found life-threatening traumatic lesions as well as traumas produced by heat. The coroner established that it had been produced by the way in which the victim had been immobilised combined with her severe state of agitation.
The five suspects were arrested between June 22 and July 28 2005, but were released after the Bucharest Court House had refused to extend their arrest warrants
During the criminal proceedings with the last term on February 9, the defence supported the innocence of the five defendants, invoking the medical liability. Maria Ilisei, the lawyer of the defence, asked that the defendants be acquitted arguing that all they had done was to help Irina Cornici recover from the condition she was in.