Fraud

Church of Scientology faces criminal fraud charges in France

A French judge on Monday ordered the Spiritual Association of the Church of Scientology (ASES - Celebrity Centre) to appear before the Paris Magistrates Court to face criminal charges. ASES has been unsuccessfully prosecuted in French courts before, and it along with an affiliated bookstore and seven church members must now defend against charges of organized fraud and the illegal practice of pharmacy.

Prosecutors had asked the judge to drop the case, which originated in 1998 with a complaint from a woman who had spent about 200,000 francs ($42,600 US) on classes, books, medication and an electrometer after Scientologists stopped her on a Paris street and offered her a free personality test. Another individual and a French pharmacists' association later became involved in the case.

In 2002, a French court ordered the Church of Scientology to pay a fine for failing to protect members' personal information, but acquitted the organization of attempted fraud and false advertising. The court refused to dissolve the Paris branch of the church, as prosecutors had requested, but France's judicial system has not yet recognized Scientology as a religion. That trial followed a report released by a French government committee in 2000 recommending that Scientology be banned as a "totalitarian" sect that disrupts public order.

Scientology, founded by American science fiction author L. Ron Hubbard in 1954, has come under increasing scrutiny in other European countries as well. Last year, the German interior minister suggested a ban on Scientology as "an organization that is not compatible with the constitution." Also last year, a Belgian prosecutor who completed a 10-year investigation of the church's activities said Scientology should be classified as a criminal organization.

(Published by Jurist - September 9, 2008)