Scientology appeal heard in Paris
The hearing has opened but lawyers for the sect have tried to have it postponed
THE French branch of Scientology is back in court for an appeal against a 2009 trial which found it guilty of “fraud in an organised gang”.
The Paris criminal court fined Scientology’s two main structures, the Paris Celebrity Center and SEL bookshop, €400,000 and €200,000 respectively, while the French leader Alain Rosenberg was fined €30,000 and given a two-year suspended sentence. Several other members were also fined.
They were said to have taken advantage of the vulnerability of several former members to take large sums of money from them.
Scientology, considered a cult in France, was however allowed to continue its activities.
In an unexpected twist, on the opening day of the appeal in Paris yesterday, lawyers for the Scientologists called for the hearing to be put off for three to six months due to what they claimed was pressure from the government on the judiciary.
This relates to a circular on “abuses by sects” sent out in September, which, according to lawyers for the sect, targeted Scientology.
This was refused. The lawyers then raised questions about constitutionality, also liable to put off the hearing for them to be considered by a higher authority. Among other issues, they suggested the case relates to matters that happened too long ago.
A decision by the court on whether or not these should be allowed is expected today or next Tuesday.
The lawyer for the prosecution, Olivier Morice, called the defence’s tactics “out of place and underhand”.
In the run-up to the 2009 trial there was controversy after it was found an obscure part of a new French law made it impossible to totally dissolve organisations found guilty of fraud, but it had been expected an operating ban might be passed. However, the court said, giving its decision, if banned there was “a risk it might continue to operate illegally”.
