Monday, 25 May 2009
Registered as a religion in the
The group's
Seven leading French Scientology
members are also in the dock. Some are charged with illegally practising as pharmacists and face up to 10 years in prison
and hefty fines.
The case centres
on a complaint made in 1998 by a woman who said she was enrolled into
Scientology after members approached her in the street and persuaded her to do
a personality test.
In the following months, she paid
more than €21,000 for books, "purification packs" of vitamins, sauna
sessions and an "e-meter" to measure her spiritual progress, she
said.
Other complaints then surfaced.
The five original plaintiffs - three of whom withdrew after reaching a
financial settlement with the
They told investigators that Scientology
members harassed them with phone calls and nightly visits to cajole them into
paying their bills or taking out bank loans. The plaintiffs were described as
"vulnerable" by psychological experts in the case.
Scientology, founded in 1954 by
science fiction writer L Ron Hubbard, describes the "e-meter" as a
religious artefact that helps the user and supervisor
locate spiritual distress.
Investigators have described the
machine as useless and said vitamin cures handed out by Church members were
medication that should not have been freely sold.
Judge Jean-Christophe Hullin ruled last year that the offices and members,
including the group's 60-year-old French head, Alain Rosenberg, should be
tried. The public prosecutor had recommended the case be shelved.
In a trial that has revived a
debate about religious freedom in secular
Scientology has faced numerous
setbacks in
The headquarters and bookshop
account for most of the group's activities in