Courts rule against the Scientology group
Paris court has judged that the French Church of Scientology has been defrauding the followers and a penalty of $900,000 was slammed on the Scientology group of the French region. But the group was not banned from operating and preaching in the country.
The Scientology group has been considered as a sect in France and the group’s lawyers appealed against the verdict. Six leaders of the group were accused and convicted. Along with them celebrity center of Scientology and its bookshop were accused of organizing a fraud and luring the customers to financially aid them.
Investigation reports showed that the group used to pressurize its members to pay lots of money and used “commercial harassment” against them. A lawyer for civil parties to the case, Ian Haworth said “This is an important and historic decision because it is the first time that Scientology has been found guilty of involvement in organized fraud”.
Al-Jazeera reported that the General secretary of the Cult Information center in the UK, Ian Haworth was ‘delighted’ with the result. He said “They’re flagging it up as a problem as far as they’re concerned and it has a criminal record now in that country … and I think it’s a way of warning the public yet again”.
A Celebrity Center spokesperson Eric Roux said that “Religious freedom is in danger in this country.” He urged France to “recognize the legality of the Church of Scientology”. A lawyer for Scientology’s French operations, Patrick Maisonneuve was unhappy with the verdict and said that he would appeal against the judgment. He said “the most important thing is that this association can continue to exercise its activities”.
The court was expected to ban the occult group in France during the trial but due to the change in a law earlier this year the option had to be ruled out. The power of dissolving an organization has been removed from the hands of judges due to the change in the law.
“It is very regrettable that the law quietly changed before the trial. The system has now been put in place by parliament and it is certain that, in the future, if new offenses are committed, a ban could eventually be pronounced”, said Georges Fenech, the head of the Inter-ministerial Unit to Monitor and Fight Cults.
The case was brought in to the light by 2 former members of the group who said that they were allured and coaxed into spending 21,000 euros ($31,183) and 49,500 euros on personality tests, vitamin cures, sauna sessions and purification packs”.
Due to fraud cases Scientology has faced numerous setbacks and lost its reputation due to such activities and demands.