Five charged with murder over nun’s ‘exorcism death’

A ROMANIAN monk and four nuns have been charged with murder after a nun died during an exorcism ritual in which she was apparently crucified in a case which has sparked outrage and angry scenes in Romania in the last week.

Daniel Petre Corogeanu and four nuns were charged with depriving a person of liberty and aggravated murder after testifying for 11 hours to prosecutors. They were later detained by police, said prosecutor Ovidiu Berinde.

Maricica Irina Cornici, a 23-year-old nun died last week in the Holy Trinity convent just outside the village of Tanacu in a remote region in north-east Romania after she was allegedly bound to a cross, left in a cold room, had a towel stuffed into her mouth and deprived of food for three days.

There were angry scenes outside the courthouse in the northeast city of Vaslui yesterday, in one of Romania’s remotest and poorest regions near the border with Moldova.

Corogeanu, a red-bearded 29-year-old monk, was jostled by shrieking locals calling for justice saying he had brought the Orthodox Church into disrepute. Others crammed against iron railings outside the prosecutor’s office, claiming the monk and nuns were innocent.