The Supreme Court of Mendoza Province has overturned the acquittal of a former nun in a case involving the abuse of deaf children, paving the way for a court to determine her sentence, according to a ruling released on Friday night and seen by AFP.

The woman, Japanese national Kumiko Kosaka, was acquitted in 2023 of abusing deaf children at the Instituto Próvolo in Mendoza between 2005 and 2016.

The 51-year-old former nun could now face a prison sentence of up to 50 years, plaintiffs’ lawyer Sergio Salinas told the AFP news agency on Saturday.

A date has yet to be set for the court to meet and determine her sentence.

In a 2019 trial, priests Horacio Corbacho and Italian national Nicola Corradi were sentenced to 45 years and 42 and a half years in prison respectively for abusing deaf children aged between four and 17. Corradi died in 2021.

Gardener Armando Gómez was sentenced to 18 years and former altar boy Jorge Bordón to 10 years.

Kosaka was acquitted in that trial, a decision that has now been overturned by the Mendoza Supreme Court.

Eight other women were also acquitted, a decision upheld in the Mendoza court’s ruling, which runs to more than 200 pages.

"Another court will determine Kumiko’s sentence, which could be up to 50 years in prison. She was convicted in relation to five victims and numerous offences," Salinas said.

The lawyer described the ruling as "a historic conviction because it means the children told the truth and that the court was highly arbitrary when it acquitted her.”

"For the victims, it is the ultimate vindication of truth and justice," said lawyer Oscar Barrera, another representative of the plaintiffs.

"One way or another, it has been demonstrated that the victims did not lie," he added.

The case involving the abuse of deaf children at the Instituto Próvolo in Mendoza, located in Luján de Cuyo, was the biggest scandal involving child sexual abuse and cover-up to have affected Argentina’s Catholic Church.

– TIMES/AFP