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12. 03. 10. - 12:00

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12. 03. 10. - 12:00

Vienna Boys Choir faces sexual abuse claims

A 33-year-old German claimed he was sexually abused during his time at the Vienna Boys Choir.

The man, who now works as a surgeon in Berlin, told Austrian daily Der Standard "shower sessions in the presence of educators" had been nothing unusual during his spell at the world famous institution from 1985 to 1987.

The unidentified man also claimed that an educator put a hand on his thigh during a coach tour, while another one force-fed a student who did not want to eat during a concert tour through the United States.

The man also claimed he was taken upstairs by a student older than him and then forced to have oral sex.

Vienna Boys Choir officials refused to comment on the man’s accusations, but said they would find out who was in charge back then by checking the archives.

Austria has been rocked by dozens of cases in which former students of Catholic boarding schools and other institutions accused educators and priests of sexual harassment.

The former choirboy’s revelations are not the first time Vienna Boys Choir has come under fire.

The institution – regarded as one of Vienna’s most important tourism trademarks – has been criticised for its plan to fell trees at the city’s Augarten park to build a new concert hall.

The choir got the go-ahead to build the venue from the Federal Economic Ministry in 2007, and officials said it would open next year.

Vienna Greens, a committee of residents and environmental activists teamed up to interfere with the construction of the concert hall.

Dozens of protesters recently climbed trees and some of them stayed there for more than 24 hours in sub-zero temperatures before ordered to leave down by police.

This initiative was preceded by demonstrations in which the protesters chained themselves to the trees before they clashed with security personnel.

Speaking to the Austrian Times, the choir’s creative director Gerald Wirth recently accused the demonstrating groups of deliberately spreading disinformation.

He said: "The main question is whether to react to all that or not. What few people know is that these 1,000 square metres were declared a construction site ten or 15 years ago and that the site has been used as a parking lot since then."

Austrian Times

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