/ricerca/ansaen/search.shtml?any=
Show less

Se hai scelto di non accettare i cookie di profilazione e tracciamento, puoi aderire all’abbonamento "Consentless" a un costo molto accessibile, oppure scegliere un altro abbonamento per accedere ad ANSA.it.

Ti invitiamo a leggere le Condizioni Generali di Servizio, la Cookie Policy e l'Informativa Privacy.

Puoi leggere tutti i titoli di ANSA.it
e 10 contenuti ogni 30 giorni
a €16,99/anno

  • Servizio equivalente a quello accessibile prestando il consenso ai cookie di profilazione pubblicitaria e tracciamento
  • Durata annuale (senza rinnovo automatico)
  • Un pop-up ti avvertirà che hai raggiunto i contenuti consentiti in 30 giorni (potrai continuare a vedere tutti i titoli del sito, ma per aprire altri contenuti dovrai attendere il successivo periodo di 30 giorni)
  • Pubblicità presente ma non profilata o gestibile mediante il pannello delle preferenze
  • Iscrizione alle Newsletter tematiche curate dalle redazioni ANSA.


Per accedere senza limiti a tutti i contenuti di ANSA.it

Scegli il piano di abbonamento più adatto alle tue esigenze.

Top court explains anorexia docs rape

Top court explains anorexia docs rape

Three offenders 'coerced vulnerable patients'

Rome, 07 September 2016, 19:34

ANSA Editorial

ANSACheck

- ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

-     ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
- ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Italy's supreme Cassation Court said Wednesday it upheld prison sentences for rape against three self-styled eating disorder specialists because their victims did not consent to having sex with them, as the defence argued.
    The Court on May 18 upheld convictions of rape and improper exercise of the medical, psychological, dietary, and psychotherapy professions against 71-year-old Waldo Bernasconi, formerly known as the "anorexia guru" in Italian and Swiss clinics, his right-hand man Piero Billari, founder of an association to cure anorexia and bulimia called Forum Crisalide, and Nigerian former actor George Durojaiye, aka Isaac George.
    The three were found guilty of sexually abusing young and vulnerable patients, one of whom subsequently committed suicide.
    The investigation was sparked in 2009 by the contents of the patient's diary, which revealed that the three coerced patients by telling them to dress provocatively and to submit sexually as a form of therapy, calling their favorite patients "pure-bred horses". The offenders told patients that "sexual activity was an adequate tool to overcome the inhibitions connected to their eating disorders", the Cassation judges wrote.
    The abuses took place in the Sana Vita (Healthy Life) clinic in Lugano, at a clinic in Como's Cascina Respaù, and in other private so-called clinics in 2004-2006.
    Some 400 former patients were contacted during the investigation.
    The Cassation Court upheld prison sentences of six months six years for Bernasconi, four years three months for Billari, and four years six months for Durojaiye.
    Those sentences were handed down by a Milan court of appeals on March 31, 2015.
    Billari is reportedly in prison, while the other two are abroad.
   

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © Copyright ANSA

Not to be missed

Share

Or use

ANSA Corporate

If it is news,
it is an ANSA.

We have been collecting, publishing and distributing journalistic information since 1945 with offices in Italy and around the world. Learn more about our services.