Morocco: Priest accused of sexual violence against minor refugees

The Archbishop of Rabat affirmed Tuesday that he had “fully cooperated” with Moroccan and foreign authorities the day after the publication, by a Moroccan media, of an investigation into sexual violence allegedly committed by a French priest in Casablanca on refugee minors.

According to the Enass information site, which refers to “a system of sexual exploitation” put in place by Father Antoine Exelmans “against minor migrants and refugees” for at least four years, a complaint was filed in May 2024 with the prosecution of the Casablanca Court of Appeal.

“As soon as the facts were brought to our attention, we initiated the steps provided for by Church law and cooperated fully with the competent civil authorities, in Morocco and abroad, by transmitting to them the results of our investigation,” said the Archbishop of Rabat, Mgr Cristobal Lopez Romero, in a press release sent to AFP, in which he reaffirmed having “taken the reports received very seriously”.

The media Enass mentions the case of a 17-year-old asylum seeker from Guinea-Conakry, who “would be among the six alleged victims of Father Antoine”, mainly Guineans, as well as a Cameroonian.

Citing an unidentified source, the media claims that the priest “maintained regular sexual relations with this minor” for “months” before his return to France. According to Enass, three of the six victims were interviewed by the National Brigade of the Judicial Police (BNPJ) in Casablanca.

The archbishop said in his statement that “the only minor victim we know of” was taken care of by the Church.

He specifies that the priest is not on the run but “currently under house arrest (…) and was interviewed by the judicial police in France”.

Following a canonical investigation, namely internal, the Church had decided to prohibit the priest “from maintaining any contact with minors” without the presence of another adult as well as support “on a psychological level”.

In July 2024, the Archbishop of Rabat admitted having been alerted to the behavior of Father Antoine “in the service of young migrants”, raising fears of “abuse of fragile people”.

Antoine Exelmans was sent to the diocese of Rabat in 2016.

At the end of September, a collective of victims of another French priest, Yves Grosjean — imprisoned in France for aggravated sexual assault — denounced in an open letter “the silences” of the dioceses of Dijon and Rabat, reproaching the ecclesiastical authorities for a lack of transparency in the face of reported abuses.