PORTLAND, Maine - An advocate for alleged sexual abuse victims in Haiti is on trial for defamation in Federal District Court in Portland.
Paul Kendrick is accused of making "false and heinous" allegations that Michael Geilenfeld sexually abused boys at the orphanage he founded in Port-au-Pince.
Kendrick says the trial will finally give the alleged victims of abuse their day in court, "albeit through the defamation trial," he says. "There are seven men from Haiti who will testify in different ways. Five of them will testify via video depositions that were taken in Port-au-Prince. Two of them live in the Boston area, and they will come here to testify."
Geilenfeld was cleared of allegations of abuse by a Haitian judge. But the country's justice minister says the verdict was improperly reached and there will be additional proceedings.
