France: Initial plaintiff withdrew from Nov. 3 appeal trial

[mnql1]

In news published on Nov. 2, 2011, it was revealed that the woman whose 1998 complaint led to Scientology's 2009 conviction for organized fraud has withdrawn from the proceedings and that, as a result, no individual plaintiffs will be involved in the Nov. 3, 2011 appeal trail. This would leave as the only plaintiffs the Order of Pharmacists and the UNADFI, an association that defends victims of cults, if the latter's request to join as a plaintiff is accepted.

Translation of a French Associated Press report posted on Nov. 2, 2011 on the website of weekly news magazine Le nouvel Observateur:

Retour à la case tribunal pour la Scientologie

Scientology returning to court

November 2, 2011

PARIS (AP) - The Church of Scientology will again be facing justice on Thursday. New hearings will begin at the Paris court of appeal regarding the "organized fraud" conviction against the French branch of this organization that is considered a cult by French authorities. Six of the movement's officials and the SEL Scientology bookstore will also appear at the trial, which is scheduled to last until December 1.

On October 27, 2009, the Paris correctional court imposed a fine of 400,000 euros on the "Spiritual Association of the Church of Scientology - Celebrity Centre" and of 200,000 euros on the bookstore for "organized fraud".

Four members of the Church of Scientology who were convicted of the same charge received suspended prison sentences ranging from 10 to 24 months - the longest going to Alain Rosenberg, who is considered one of the movement's leaders in France. Two other members were fined 1,000 and 2,000 euros for "complicity in the illegal practice of pharmacy".

For this new trial, defense lawyers will use various tactics to seek the repeal of the entire first trial decision and to gain acquittal. Certain parties may raise priority issues of constitutionality.

The lawyers will argue that the first decision undermines freedom of religion and freedom of association. "Scientology's fault is that it is religion that was born in the twentieth century," said one of the defense lawyers, Michel de Guillenchmidt, in an interview with Associated Press. In his view, "The court failed to understand freedom of conscience and freedom of religion."

Eight defendants - six individuals and two legal entities, will be retried. The appeal court will examine the methods and practices of both organizations, in particular the sale of a device that is supposed to "measure changes in a person's mental state and allow a practitioner to draw conclusions about the individual's personality." This "E-meter" is sold to followers for 4,800 euros.

The case began when a former follower filed a formal civil complaint in December 1998. In May 1998, she was accosted by Scientologists at the exit of a subway station. The association first offered her a personality test and an appointment to interpret the results.

Over time, the complainant spent 140,000 French Francs (21,340 euros) for books, a communication course, a "life repair", and "purification packs". To pay for this, she had to take out loans and empty her bank accounts. When she demanded the refund of these sums, the association refused and proposed instead that she sign a protocol, but she declined. According to the defense, these sums have since then been reimbursed to this complainant.

It was learned from a judicial source that, at the appeal trial, the complainant is expected to withdraw as a plaintiff. However, the defense is on edge because the UNADFI ("National Union of Associations for the Defense of Families and the Individual") will again be present, even though its request to join the plaintiffs was turned down at the first trial. Scientology's lawyers also intend to submit arguments to have UNADFI declared inadmissible.

Another plaintiff is the National Order of Pharmacists, which opposes the sale of vitamins by the association and had filed a complaint for "illegal practice of pharmacy".

At the end of the first trial, the prosecution requested the dissolution of the church and of the bookstore, but this penalty was abolished in May 2009 because of a reform to simplify the law. It has since been restored, but it can only apply to offenses committed after the restoration. On account of the dissolution requests, Scientology has initiated civil litigation against the government for 900,000 euros.

Considered a religion in the United States, Spain and Sweden, the movement founded in 1954 by American science fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard has been classified as a cult in France since 1995.

A Nov. 2, 2011 article in Le Figaro contains much of the information that has already been posted about the 2009 conviction for organized fraud and the Nov. 3, 2011 appeal trial, but it also provides this detail (translation):

Nouveau procès contre la Scientologie

"Aude-Claire M. withdrew from her complaint by a letter dated December 8, 2010. There is no longer any physical victim," Michel de Guillenchmidt, one of the defense attorneys, said today.

 

[mnql1]

Translation of an excerpt from a French article posted on Nov. 3, 2011 on the website of the Europe1 radio network:

Now that the four former Scientology members who filed complaints, the first of which was in 1998, have all withdrawn, the only other plaintiff is the National Council of the Order of Pharmacists. A member of MIVILUDES (the Interminsterial Mission of Vigilance and Combat against Cultic Abuses) told Europe1 that he is not surprised by these withdrawals. "It is Scientology's habit to reach settlements so that no plaintiff remains," he commented.

MIVILUDES fears that the appeal trial might be canceled because of possible judicial maneuvers by Scientology. "Every time there is a trial involving Scientology - every time - an exceptional and bizarre event occurs. If it isn't the disappearance of a file in the courthouse, it's the completely unexplained disappearance of a law regarding dissolution. Today, it's the witnesses who are disappearing," he lamented.

"So either there is a curse that afflicts the justice system as soon as it becomes interested in Mister Ron Hubbard's foundation, or there is a real power to counteract, to take action so that justice can never be heard," says the organization.

La Scientologie de retour devant la justice

 

[Lermanet_com]

This is so similar to what happened in Spain....to the case surrounding the 1994 Spanish criminal indictment

It was my posting of this criminal indictment in english to USENET newsgroups alt.religion.scientology and alt.clearing.technology in August of 1994, and many other scanned and the ocr'd affidavits, that caused OSA to first come to my door in November of 1994. I did not speak with them... This visit was described in a Christmas day article in The Washington Post the next month.

The Article (which has a scan of the FAX from OSA regarding the Spanish Criminal Complaint... is HERE

The fax from osa is fun to read:

The reference to "we know who DICONNECTD is" was a reference to a nick that I used on AOL.com also I was posting stuff to both AOL and to USENET as [email protected] 93.. and 94, AOL opened its gateway to "The Internet" (usenet, and web and IRC in September 93).

Joe Harrington had mailed me the Spanish criminal complaint... which included "Inducement to suicide".... and you can read it HERE (with pictures of Heber in Handcuffs)

A couple of the complainants also read my posts on usenet and aol and they contacted me. They said they were being heavily survielled and harassed...and one could not afford to have them mess with his busness, a jewlery from the US named John Caban.

I got updates from time to time and posted what i could.

I'll never forget the last telephone call from spain....John was so sad, crushed... he sounded shattered.. like the image on the cover of the PTS/SP handling pack published by those nazi scientology scumbags...sorry...I'll keep to the point...

John told me in his last telephone call that each of the original complainants had had incredible pressures placed upon them, gas lighting style, and then after their lives were a stressed out wreck, they were each offerred cash to settle IF they would drop their criminal complaints.

I begged John not to settle, in each conversation I had with him and a few others in that case, he assured me he was pissed and strong and going the distance...

But this last telephone call was different. He said, "Arnie, I'm the last complainant left, I can't deal with the pressure..., they (scn) has bought off every other complainant... I can't take it anymore..."

I never heard from John again.

At the new years event, Miscavige said something very interesting, he said, about the Spanish criminal case, ... "and when the defense put its witnesses on the stand, Scientology worked! and even when the prosecution put its witnesses on the stand, SCIENTOLOGY WORKED!"

To all of you who remember those words from DM, this is the rest of the story.

Arnie Lerma
---------------
old sig line: the only things that work in scientology are the lawyers

 

[mnql1]

A Nov. 3, 2011 post by Roger Gonnet on the French Google group about cults quotes an article from the irreverent satirical weekly magazine Charlie Hebdo (whose offices were destroyed on Nov. 2). Here is an informal translation:

Encore une manipulation prouvant la terreur de la secte criminelle scientologie devant la justice

On the eve of its appeal trial, at which the UNADFI (National Union of Associations for the Defense of Families and the Individual) has finally been admitted to represent the victims, Scientology undertook a last maneuver to attempt to get rid of one of its principal assailants, attorney Olivier Morice, counsel for the anti-cult association.

Recall that, in 2009, six Scientologists were fined 600,000 euros for relieving several followers of their money.

Charlie Hebdo is able to reveal that the manipulation took place in two stages. First, the cult took Morice to court for a motive that, it wouldn't be very wrong to say, was trumped up. Then, on the basis of this completely fabricated case, the cult filed a professional ethics report to the Paris bar to try to have the lawyer (who has refused to comment about this) removed from the trial.

The matter was heard on Friday behind closed doors before Jacques-Antoine Robert, member of the bar's ethics commission. Morice was defended by Meriem Kheliadi, and the counsel for Scientology, Gérard Ducray, by a lawyer whose name is well known: Brigitte Longuet, wife of the Defense Minister, in person.

It doesn't require much effort to infer that an attempt is afoot to destabilize Morice, the attorney for the victims in the Karachi affair, which is being followed very closely by the Defense Ministry.

The bar should render a decision this Wednesday, November 2.

 

[Ogsonofgroo]

Thank you Mnql1 for keeping us updated on this latest culty gyration!

Be nice to see some in depth international press coverage too.

I think at best CoS will come out looking like the manipulative liars and charlatans that we've come to know and mock so well.

 

[mnql1]

Translation of a French article posted on Nov. 3, 2011 on the website of weekly news magazine Le Point:
Justice : la scientologie cherche à obtenir un renvoi de son procès en appel

Scientology seeking to delay its appeal trial

Source: AFP
November 3, 2011

On Thursday, at the opening of its appeal trial for "organized fraud", the Paris branch of the Church of Scientology sought a delay by unsuccessfully alleging government "pressures" on judges and by raising multiple points of law. Scientology's two principal entities in France - the Celebrity Centre and its SEL bookstore - were heavily fined in 2009 and five Scientologists, including the "de facto head" of the movement in Paris, Alain Rosenberg, are due to be retried in court until December 1. They are accused of exploiting the vulnerability of former followers to extract large sums of money from them.

Speaking to the press, Olivier Morice, the lawyer representing the UNADFI, an association that combats cult abuses and has registered as a plaintiff, expressed indignation that Scientology "is seeking a delay in a manner that is completely inappropriate and unfair". "For us, Scientology is a business whose main objective is to take the money of its followers," Olivier Morice said outside the court. Considered a religion in the United States, the movement founded in 1954 by American science fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard was classified as a cult in France in a 1995 parliamentary report. Scientology claims 12 million followers worldwide and 45,000 in France.

The defense first tried unsuccessfully to have the trial postponed by three to six months by alleging that a Ministry of Justice circular issued to judges and prosecutors in September regarding "cult abuses" was an attempt to put "pressures" on judges. The court turned down this request.

The Tiberi precedent

Scientology's lawyers denied that they were resorting to "stalling" maneuvers and they next began raising several priority questions of constitutionality that are liable to provoke a delay if they were judged to be serious and submitted to the Court of Cassation. The first point was raised by Gérard Ducrey and alleges a "failure to deliver justice in a reasonable time", given that the facts of the case date back to "September 1997 to October 1999". According to Mr. Ducrey, this point is similar to the one that, in September, resulted in the postponement of the trial of former Paris Mayor Jean Tiberi and his wife Xavière in the case concerning vote-rigging in the 5th arrondissement.

The presiding judge, Claudine Forkel, announced that the court would announce its decision "tomorrow or on Tuesday", once the four questions of constitutionality have been examined. Scientology's lawyers are also disputing the presence of the UNADFI as a plaintiff, a status that was denied at the first trial. The four former Scientology members who, as early as 1998, filed the complaints that opened this case have all withdrawn and the only other remaining plaintiff is the National Council of the Order of Pharmacists.

Several defendants stand accused of "illegal practice of medicine" because of the vitamins that followers must ingest during their "purification cures". In 2009, the Celebrity Centre and its SEL bookstore were fined, respectively, 400,000 and 200,000 euros, but they were able to continue operating. Alain Rosenberg received a suspended sentence of two years in prison and he was fined 30,000 euros. The penalties for the four other Scientologists who filed an appeal range from a 2,000 euro fine to a suspended sentence of 18 months in prison and a 20,000 euro fine. The trial resumes on Friday at 9 A.M.