Lisbon
A leading politician is among dozens of prominent people accused in a child sex scandal that has rocked the Portuguese establishment. Paulo Pedroso, spokesman for the Socialist Party, has been charged with 15 counts of child abuse. A TV celebrity has also been arrested, and prosecutors say other politicians and business leaders may soon be charged. The abuse allegations began earlier this year, when former inmates of the Casa Pia home for troubled children came forward with tales of a sex ring that had been operating for years. A janitor at the home allegedly provided boys and girls, many of them disabled, to rich men on weekends. The mounting physical evidence has appalled the country. “This is a sorrow borne by all of society,” said the Lisbon daily Jornal de Noticias. “Portugal is weeping, silently and deeply.”
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