Lyon’s Correctional Court has sentenced Archbishop Philippe Barbarin, one of France’s influential cardinals, to six months of conditional imprisonment for concealing facts of child molestation in church and for not interfering, reports TASS, citing Le Dauphiné libéré.

The newspaper reports that Barbarin was not in court when the court judgment was being announced.

The trial over concealing facts of child molestation in church in the 1970s and 1980s began on 7 January. The archbishop was joined by five others, including two bishops and a representative of the Curia of Rome. The trial was launched at the initiative of the La Parole Libre (Free Speech) NGO. The content of the allegations is that neither Barbarin nor the other clergymen have condemned Barbarin’s actions and haven’t taken action to subject him to judicial prosecution.