CHURCH OF SCIENTOLOGY TO ASK COUNCIL OF EUROPE TO INVESTIGATE PERVERSION OF FRENCH JUSTICE SYSTEM

In response to the government’s comments on the last day of a trial in France involving the Church of Scientology, the Church said today that it will ask the Council of Europe rapporteur currently investigating religious discrimination in France to look into the manipulation of the justice system to destroy religious minorities.

Following a petition by 60 religious and spiritual minorities in France, the Council of Europe’s Legal Affairs Committee appointed the rapporteur in October 2000.

“A trumped-up case is being used to practice legal terrorism against our Church and its members,” said Leisa Goodman, Human Rights Director of the Church of Scientology International. “A so-called ’Interministerial Mission to Fight Against Sects (MILS)’, run by a fanatical government official, Alain Vivien, stage-manages show trials and hate campaigns from behind the scenes.

“Call it a witch hunt, call it a modern-day inquisition —one thing is certain: If human rights were an Olympic discipline, France would have been resoundingly disqualified. We are confident though that this time the French judges will let justice win.”

She added, “If one strips away the hate-filled rhetoric, it is obvious that our people did no wrong, and that what we are really accused of is that we proselytize and are doing a good job at it. We are to be eliminated because the Church has been the most vociferous group in defending freedom of conscience and belief in France. Since the 1996 publication of an official blacklist of 172 religious minorities, the Church has organized a series of hearings throughout France at which members of religious minorities testified about violations of their rights, all solely due to their religious beliefs. The Church regularly publishes a magazine, “Ethics and Liberty”, exposing government excess against religious groups, and it has twice sued the French state before the European Court of Human Rights.” (Both actions are still pending).

Yesterday, the Church also filed a 25-page complaint to the United Nations High Commissioner on Human Rights in Geneva, detailing 18 separate incidents of discrimination against its parishioners and asking for a UN investigation into France.

“Religious and human rights groups around the world have expressed outrage at the religious intolerance in France,” said Ms. Goodman. She added that Scientologists, jointly with other religious and human rights defenders, will stage demonstrations outside French Embassies and Consulates in Europe in the coming weeks.