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British politician to stand in the dock over child sex abuse

Monday, 29 June 2015 3:32 PM [ Last Update: Monday, 29 June 2015 3:32 PM ]

In the UK, Labour peer Greville Ewan Janner is set to stand trial over alleged child sex abuses.

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has announced the decision which overturns a previous ruling that exempted the 89-year-old peer from criminal proceedings due to the onset of Alzheimer’s disease, RT reported on Monday.

The CPS said the Director of Public Prosecutions (DDP) Alison Saunders would pursue “criminal proceedings against Greville Janner for child sex offences.”

The decision to reverse Janner’s immunity came through the “recently introduced” Victim’s Right to Review scheme “which allows victims to have their cases looked at again, no matter who in the CPS made the original decision not to prosecute,” the report added.

Janner is expected to stand trial on August 7 at Westminster Magistrate’s Court.

Now Dr. John Bird, operations manager of the National Association for People Abused in Childhood, says the issue needs to be reflected by the public “because talking about it makes the society realize how widespread the problem is in the UK.”

Bird added that the UK for decades chose to look the other way instead of tending to the issue.

Janner will reportedly face 22 alleged offences which took place between 1969 and 1988.

The total charges against the peer include 14 indecent assaults on a male under the age of 16, four counts of gross indecency with a male under the age of 16, two counts of indecency and two further counts of gross indecency, RT noted.

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