Scientology maneuvering to escape justice
by Emmanuel Fansten
November 11, 2011
Convicted of organized fraud in 2009, the organization is trying one maneuver after another to torpedo the appeal trial.
With Scientology, justice is often a matter of miracles. Missing files, vanishing complaints, endless procedures ... Trials rarely unfold normally when they involve the heirs of L. Ron Hubbard. The trial that began on November 3 at the Paris court of appeal is no exception.
At the first trial in 2009, the prosecution demanded the outright dissolution of Scientology's two principal entities in France, the Celebrity Centre and its SEL bookstore.
Unfortunately, a mysterious legislative revision that was discreetly voted into law a month earlier precisely prevented the dissolution of a legal entity convicted of fraud.
At the time, this matter caused a big stir. Certain members of the National Assembly even spoke of infiltration by Scientology at the heart of the Justice Ministry. Following an internal investigation, it was finally discovered that the change in the law was due to a "blunder" by a civil servant at the National Assembly.
The malaise became even harder to quell when Scientology, claiming it was wronged by the prosecution's illegal requests, filed a lawsuit for gross negligence against the French government for one million euros in damages and interest...
Buying off complaints
Despite these complications, the first trial ended in a harsh conviction for Scientology. The principal defendants were handed suspended prison sentences ranging from ten months to two years.
Moreover, Scientology as a legal entity was convicted of organized fraud and of the illegal practice of pharmacy, and fined 600,000 euros. It was not just the underlings, but the Scientology system itself that was excoriated by the French justice system in 2009.
Two years later, the organization is determined to avenge this slight and, to avoid any new conviction that would be catastrophic in terms of image, Scientology is willing to pay a high price.
According to an internal source, Scientology's legal department has spent more than one million euros on the current trial. This amount includes the fees of its lawyers - more than half a dozen at the hearings - but also payments to victims to have them withdraw their complaint, an old Scientology method.
The last victim to accept a settlement in return for her silence was Aude-Claire Malton, the only plaintiff who held out from the pressures all the way to the first trial.
In court, the young woman described her first contact with Scientology, one evening in May 1998 at the Opéra metro station.
After taking a "personality test", she was diagnosed as having a psychological fragility and was referred to the Scientology center in Paris. The new recruit then spent 21,500 euros in just a few weeks for courses and books, liquidating her home-savings account and her life insurance. Though financially ruined, she was even escorted by a Scientologist to a credit institution ...
"An unhealthy climate"
It is impossible to know how much money the young woman received for her retraction. However, now that all the victims have withdrawn their complaints, only two plaintiffs are left at the appeal trial: the Order of Pharmacists and the UNADFI, the principal French anti-cult association.
The situation is considered intolerable by Scientology, which for many years has repeatedly complained about a "thought police" funded by the government. In a thick press package distributed to journalists in the lead-up to the trial, L. Ron Hubbard's organization violently attacked the UNADFI:
"Its use of the courts for partisan purposes and its intervention to shape the testimony of former parishioners to match its own freedom-stifling agenda are the source of the rumors that surround this trial."
This line of defense is largely being followed by Scientology's lawyers. "We are not in a trial, we are in a fight," asserted one of the attorneys on the first day of the hearings. In addition to attempting without success to adjourn the case and raising multiple priority questions of constitutionality to delay addressing the substance of the trial, the lawyers have also complained about the "unhealthy climate" and "psychosis" surrounding this affair.
It would take an effort to be fooled. Behind these procedural maneuvers, Scientology, which was classified as a "cult" by a 1995 parliamentary report, is first and foremost trying to shift the debate toward concern over religious freedom. In fact, an expert in this area, Michel de Guillenchmidt, has opportunely joined the ranks of the defense attorneys.
A well-known lobbyist for the Jehovah's Witnesses, Michel de Guillenchmidt has for years toiled to have France convicted of religious discrimination, a cause that is also intensely promoted by Scientology itself, which does not hesitate to complain about each conviction to the European Court of Human Rights.
"This trial will be a chance to ask the real questions about the treatment of religious minorities in France," Scientology recently said in a statement. It is not certain, however, that denying the legitimacy of the trial is a defense that will satisfy the court. Unless a new miracle comes along to save the Scientologists.