Anna Sawerthal's article for the Austrian magazine Datum, issue 11/2017, republished by info-buddhism.com, surveying abuse allegations across Buddhist traditions rather than only Tibetan Buddhism. It records, as one example, that in July 2017 a court in Augsburg sentenced the Zen teacher "Genpo D." to eight years in prison after he admitted to sexually abusing seven boys, and that he had appealed the conviction on the grounds that the sentence was too severe.
Facts
Assessment
Reliability Tier2
Tier 2: a named journalist writing for an established Austrian magazine, republished on a specialist Buddhist-studies portal, read directly on 14 August 2026; the sentence figure (eight years, rounded) differs slightly from the wire report's more precise seven years nine months, a discrepancy this atlas resolves in favour of the wire figure as stated in the entity facts below. NotesRead directly, 14 August 2026. Cited for the defendant's appeal against sentence length, a detail not found in the wire report.
Citation
AuthorAnna Sawerthal
PublisherDatum (Austria)
Publication Year2017
URLhttps://info-buddhism.com/Abuse_and_Buddhism-Behind_the_Smiling_Facade-Anna_Sawerthal.html
Source Typejournalism
Claims Backed By This Source (10 claims)
This source backs 10 claims across the atlas. As facts: 9 well-attested. Plus 1 entities citing it as a general reference with no single fact or relationship attached.
Disposition By Topic
- Sources, 8 claims: 8 well-attested.
- Abuse Inquiries and Response Policies, 2 claims: 1 well-attested, 1 general references.
Well-attested
9Abuse Inquiries and Response Policies
General References
1Abuse Inquiries and Response Policies
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