Cleric found guilty of lewd act against 13-year-old girl

A municipal court in the town of Nafplio in the Peloponnese in southern Greece has found a 40-year-old cleric from Ermionida guilty of sending lewd video material to a 13-year-old, in a case that shocked the nation when it was first publicized a few weeks ago. 

The municipal court's verdict was guilty without mitigating circumstances and the archimandrite was sentenced to 40 months in jail.

The cleric's defense appealed the ruling.

The man did not attend the trial, citing illness, and was represented by his lawyer, while the parents of the child and close relatives of the priest were present and welcomed the verdict.