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Trial date set for fraud case against Church of Scientology in France

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Saturday, January 31, 2009

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A trial date has been set in a fraud case against the Church of Scientology in France. The date for the first hearing has been set for May 25, 2009. If the Church is found guilty, then Scientology would be ruled illegal and would be banned from operating in France.

Scientology Celebrity Centre on Franklin Avenue in Los Angeles, California
Image: Minnaert.

Prosecutors claim that the Church is engaged in illicit practices in attempts to sell their alleged self-help material. The Church also faces charges of illegally operating as a pharmacy by illegally treating individuals with prescription medications.

The charges come from an unnamed woman, who in 1998 purchased nearly 140,000₣ (US$30,000) worth of Scientology self-help material which allegedly included prescription drugs. After a few months passed, the woman said she felt like she was being scammed.

Following several complaints from other unnamed individuals and an investigation, judge Jean-Christophe Hullin ordered the Church's 'Celebrity Center', and the seven managers to be put on trial for fraud and "illegally practicing as pharmacists."

The special treatment reserved for the Church of Scientology Celebrity Center raises questions about the equality of the justice system and the presumption of innocence.

—Church of Scientology statement

On September 8, 2008 the Church released a statement following the order to stand trial saying that they felt "stigmatized" by the French judicial system.

"The special treatment reserved for the Church of Scientology Celebrity Center raises questions about the equality of the justice system and the presumption of innocence," the Church said in a statement to the press.

This is not the first time the Church has been accused of fraud in France. They have also been convicted of it several times, including the Church's founder, L. Ron Hubbard who was convicted of fraud in 1978. In 1997 the Church was convicted of fraud in Lyon and 1999 in Marseille. The 1978 convictions included Hubbard and his wife at the time, Mary Sue, both now deceased, and two other Scientologists.

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The 1978 convictions included Hubbard and four Scientologists after a seven year investigation into the Church by the French authorities. The court ruled that Hubbard and the others were using Scientology by making fraudulent claims that it was curing people from diseases to "increase the financial revenue" of the Church, and the ruling ordered Hubbard and the Scientologists to serve four years in prison.

However, Hubbard, along with the four Scientologists fled France, never to return, and never served a prison term.

Sources

  Learn more about Scientology controversies and Scientology as a state-recognized religion on Wikipedia.
 

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  This page is archived, and is no longer publicly editable.
Articles presented on Wikinews reflect the specific time at which they were written and published, and do not attempt to encompass events or knowledge which occur or become known after their publication.

Got a correction? Add the template {{editprotected}} to the talk page along with your corrections, and it will be brought to the attention of the administrators.

Please note that due to our archival policy, we will not alter or update the content of articles that are archived, but will only accept requests to make grammatical and formatting corrections.

Note that some listed sources or external links may no longer be available online due to age.

The text of this article is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 License


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