FRANCE’S CHURCH of Scientology went on trial yesterday on charges of organised fraud in a case that could lead to the nationwide dissolution of the controversial organisation.
The organisation’s “celebrity centre”, its spiritual association and its Scientology Freedom Space bookshop in Paris stand accused of targeting vulnerable people for commercial gain. Six leading members, including the celebrity centre’s director, Alain Rosenberg, also face charges of illegally distributing pharmaceuticals.
The case is the second in six years to accuse the French church of fraud. It stems from the testimony of a French woman who filed a complaint against the organisation in 1998.
Lawyers for Aude-Claire Malton claim Scientologists preyed on her at a time when she was “very psychologically fragile”, allegedly pressuring her into spending her life savings of €21,000 on products including “purification packs” and vitamins.
Investigating magistrate Jean-Christophe Hullin argues she was the victim of a deliberately manipulative system that exploits vulnerable people to make money.
In his indictment, Judge Hullin said the church, which has been glamorised by Hollywood members such as Tom Cruise and John Travolta, made a profit by placing individuals in a “state of subjection”. The organisation, he argued, was “first and foremost a commercial business” whose actions revealed “a real obsession for financial remuneration”.
The church denies using any psychological manipulation, and decries what it calls a “carefully orchestrated campaign” by French anti-cult organisations to shut it down. “This is a sacrilegious trial,” said a spokesman, Daniele Gounord, yesterday.
Patrick Maisonneuve, a lawyer for the church, said he would fight every charge.
France has been a particularly hostile environment for Scientologists ever since the movement was born in the 1950s. In this instance, however, the Paris prosecutor had asked for the case to be dropped, but Judge Hullin ruled last year that it should proceed.
While some countries, such as the US, consider Scientology a religion, France categorises it as a sect, and the country’s courts have convicted several individuals of fraud in past decades – most notably the organisation’s science fiction-writing creator, L Ron Hubbard, in 1978.
Hotel worker Ms Malton was one of several former members to file complaints. Three of them, however, have since withdrawn after reaching a financial arrangement with church officials.
Ms Malton, who in May 1998 had just emerged from a relationship break-up and was suffering emotional difficulties, says she was approached by Scientologists at the exit of a métro station in Paris and offered a “free personality test”. When the results came back negative, she was persuaded to sign up for “communication” and “life repair” classes.
She alleges she was encouraged to buy an array of paraphernalia, including Scientology books and so-called purification packs. Her lawyers claim the church sold her one product – an “electrometer”, supposedly used to diagnose a member’s mental state – for €4,800.
If convicted, the six top Scientologists in the country face up to 10 years in prison and a fine of €1 million. – (Guardian service)