Archbishop Heiner Koch to Testify in Cologne Abuse Case
The court aims to determine whether church officials, including Koch, were aware of or complicit in enabling abuse by a convicted priest during the 1970s and 1980s.
- A 58-year-old woman is suing the Archdiocese of Cologne for €830,000, alleging sexual abuse by a priest while she was his foster child in the 1970s and 1980s.
- The priest was convicted in 2022 for abusing nine girls between 1993 and 2018 and was sentenced to 12 years in prison, after which he was removed from the clerical state.
- Archbishop Heiner Koch, who was a young priest in the Archdiocese of Cologne at the time of the alleged abuse, is set to testify on March 25, 2025, to address claims of institutional knowledge or complicity.
- The court will explore whether church officials allowed the plaintiff to stay in the priest's room at the seminary, as alleged by the plaintiff.
- The Archdiocese of Cologne denies liability, arguing that the priest's actions were unrelated to his clerical duties and that the youth welfare office made the decision to place the plaintiff in his care.
Der Tagesspiegel 
Stern 