Scientology is a fraud

[Twinky]

This may not have made the news in the USA:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/8327569.stm

http://www.afriquejet.com/news/international-news/france:-court-in-france-convicts-scientology-of-organized-fraud-2009102837168.html

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091027/ap_on_re_eu/eu_france_scientology

Church of Scientology convicted of fraud in France

By NICOLAS VAUX-MONTAGNY, Associated Press Writer Nicolas Vaux-montagny, Associated Press Writer – Tue Oct 27, 12:58 pm ET PARIS – A Paris court convicted the Church of Scientology of fraud and fined it more than euro600,000 ($900,000) on Tuesday, but stopped short of banning the group's activities.

The group's French branch said it would appeal the verdict.

The court convicted the Church of Scientology's French office, its library and six of its leaders of organized fraud. Investigators said the group pressured members into paying large sums of money for questionable financial gain and used "commercial harassment" against recruits.

The group was fined euro400,000 ($600,000) and the library euro200,000. Four of the leaders were given suspended sentences of between 10 months and two years. The other two were given fines of euro1,000 and euro2,000.

Prosecutors had urged that the group be disbanded in France and fined euro2 million. A law that was briefly on the books this year prevented the court from going so far as to disband the French branch of Scientology in Tuesday's verdict — though it could have taken the lesser step of shutting down its operations.

However, the court did not do so, ruling that French Scientologists would have continued their activities anyway "outside any legal framework."

A spokeswoman for the French branch of Scientology, Agnes Bron, said the verdict was "an Inquisition of modern times," a reference to efforts to rout out heretics of the Roman Catholic Church in centuries past.

"It's really all bark and no bite," said the spokesman of the Church of Scientology International, Tommy Davis. "The church will emerge victorious on appeal."

Speaking by telephone from New York, Davis said the Church of Scientology was prepared to take the case to the European Court of Human Rights.

The head of a French association that helps victims of sects called the verdict "intelligent."

"Scientology can no longer hide behind freedom of conscience," Catherine Picard said.

The Los Angeles-based Church of Scientology, founded in 1954 by the late science fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard, has been active for decades in Europe, but has struggled to gain status as a religion. It is considered a sect in France and has faced prosecution and difficulties in registering its activities in many countries.

Defense lawyer Patrick Maisonneuve said during the trial that neither the Church of Scientology nor the six leaders on trial had gained financially from the group's practices.

The original complaint in the case dates back more than a decade, when a young woman said she took out loans and spent the equivalent of euro21,000 on books, courses and "purification packages" after being recruited in 1998. When she sought reimbursement and to leave the group, its leadership refused. She was among three eventual plaintiffs.

Olivier Morice, lawyer for civil parties in the case, said the verdict was "historic" because it was the first time in France that the Church of Scientology has been convicted of organized fraud.

Investigating Judge Jean-Christophe Hullin spent years examining the group's activities, and in his indictment criticized what he called the Scientologists' "obsession" with financial gain and practices he said were aimed at plunging members into a "state of subjection."

The Church of Scientology teaches that technology can expand the mind and help solve problems. It claims 10 million members around the world, including celebrity devotees Tom Cruise and John Travolta.

Belgium, Germany and other European countries have been criticized by the U.S. State Department for labeling Scientology as a cult or sect and enacting laws to restrict its operations.

(emphasis mine)

Looks like the "church" is still very much in denial.

But the whole thing still has that very familiar ring about it, just a different name...

It would be nice to think that the "young woman" who took out E21,000 loans and who later complained was awarded some of the money that the organization was fined. Whether she ever sees any of it will be quite another matter.

[T-Bone]

perhaps a deleted scene

Edited October 29, 2009 by T-Bone

[Twinky]

Very funny, T-Bone.

Grandiose ideas, though, hasn't it? Comparing themselves to being persecuted as if under the Inquisition. "We must have the truth...everyone is ganging up on us to keep it quiet!" Heard that before, somewhere not too far away.

[JeffSjo]

Thanks for the laugh T-bone.

:B) The condition, intermittent chuckling, may last for days.