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French court upholds Scientology fraud conviction

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Thu, 02 Feb 2012 10:02p.m.

The sign of the Scientology library is seen on the headquarters of the Church of Scientology in Paris (Reuters)

The sign of the Scientology library is seen on the headquarters of the Church of Scientology in Paris (Reuters)

A French appeals court has upheld the Church of Scientology's 2009 fraud conviction.

The French branch of the group was accused of pressuring members into paying large sums for questionable remedies and using "commercial harassment" against recruits.

While Scientology is recognized as a religion in the U.S., Sweden and Spain, it is not considered one under French law.

The original trial court, however, stopped short of banning the organization in France, declining even to shut down its operations.

The appeals court on Thursday ordered the same fines as the trial court, euro400,000 ($530,000) for the church and euro200,000 for its bookstore.

Founded in 1954 by science fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard, the church teaches that technology can expand the mind and help solve problems.

AP

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06 Feb 2012 05:27p.m.

Rita Peters wrote:

The decision by the Paris Court of Appeal against the Church of Scientology and its parishioners represents a miscarriage of justice and a violation of the right to freedom of religion. From the outset, the appellate proceedings were characterized by arbitrary and discriminatory rulings completely unsupported by the law. The environment in the Court was so prejudicial that, in November 2011, defense attorneys walked out of the proceedings in protest, refusing as a matter of conscience to participate in appellate proceedings as it degenerated into a charade. In 2006, the original prosecutor dismissed this investigation because it was so weak that eight years of inquiry failed to disclose any evidence of wrongdoing. The case was only resurrected by a new prosecutor due to intense political pressure from anti-religious extremists in the French government. That pressure continued unabated throughout the trial and the appeal. Most recently, it manifested itself in the form of an outrageous Ministry of Justice circular placing impermissible pressure on the Court of Appeal to issue a negative ruling in this case. The Church has brought the evidence of this miscarriage of justice to the attention of the United Nations in the form of a complaint to the Rapporteur for the Independence of the Judiciary. This complaint is pending. The Church will appeal to the Cassation Court to raise the critical legal and constitutional challenges ignored by the Court of Appeals in contravention of the Rule of Law. The Church is hopeful that these serious defects in the proceedings will be addressed and remedied in this appeal. If necessary, the Church will take this to the European Court of Human Rights where Scientology Churches have already won two unanimous decisions upholding the rights of its members. (Church of Scientology of Moscow v Russia in 2007 and Kimlya v. Russia in 2009.) The Church continues to expand in France and all around in the world. See www.scientology.org.