From: jensting@imaginet.fr (Jens Tingleff) Subject: LYON TRIAL French press report 4/10 [Xenu] Date: 1996/10/05 Message-ID: organization: ARSCC Operation Clean the Planet newsgroups: alt.religion.scientology [Summary/piecemeal translation of article of the day in connection with the trial in Lyon of 23 clams. From Liberation, liberal/leftish French daily French original in single quotes. Comments/unclear points in square brackets. Apologies for my French, gotta get a dictionary one of these days... For 'sect' you may want to read 'cult'. Copyrights stated as being Liberation, by default (i.e. there are n explicit copyright notices with the articles] Three articles today. One full page. "Choisir entre sa famille et la scientologie" '"Chose between their family and scientology"' Bernard Fromentien Liberation, 4/10 -96, page 16 Copyright 1996 Liberation ======================================================================= On the fourth day of the trial of the church of scientology in Lyon, experts and testimonies by the civil parties in the case attempted to clarify the methods, the finances and the objectives of the church of scientology. Psychiatric expert Jean-Marie Abgrall has attentively read the texts of the founders of the organisation. His speech was also supported by the reading of 107 individual files retrieved from the org in Lyon. He states that the primary strength of the sect resides in the capacity to impose postulates. The method, borrowed from marketing, attempts to repair rapidly the unease of the individual, to bestow guilt on him through a series of harassements and blackmail. Thusly, states Jean-Marie Abrall, the young adherent Patrice Vic who was preparing himself for a purification cure, found himself "faced with an impossible choice: his family or scientology." His suicide, according to Dr Bgrall, was inevitable ['ineluctable' ?]. He attributes the problems of kidney, hepatitis and brain of the adherent to a taking of vitamins in high doses. "The disciple poisons himself with his own waste products, his liver and kidney stop working," in the opinion of the expert. According to him, the result is a phenomenen of non-corporality ['phenomene de decorporation']. According to testimonies he has studied, "the adherent sees himself sometimes in the form of a snail. He talks to plants. He is told that he should go back in time, to 108 millions years BC. He finds himself as an Egyptian mummy or as a sage in Tibet." More prosaically, the investigations into companies to find the financial paths of the organisation have attempted to discover how money is moved in it. Mohammed Ounis, former adherent, entered in 1989 in the function of treasurer in the origanisation, armed with a business degree in accounting ['BTS de comptabilite']. "Beware, it is not at all the same kind of accounting as the one I was taought in school," he warned. Commisioner Etienne Mozul, member of the financial brigade ['brigade financiere'], expanded on the findings of an investigation based on 458 hearings ['proces verbaux']. He values at 15.9 millions FFR the sums which were moved during 1988 and 1988 between France and Copenhagen, partly cheques or money orders financing the training ['prestations de formation'] of the mother organisation. The collection of 5 to 15% from the orgs to the "centre" was steered to the US. The responsibles encountered "were silent ['tombent de nues'], gave answers which were fluffy ['floues'] or incoherent to the first precise question" commisioner Mozul concludes. He reveals that he was limited in his investigation by lack of disclosure ['find de non-recevoir'] by various nack establishments i France, the US or the UK. It is , in contrast, "respect for laws" which animates the Association for defense of the family and the Individual ['Association de defense de la famille et de l'indivu' - ADFI]. Often cited in the trial by the adherents which they have helped in their dissidence, ADFI wishes first of all to fight against sects "with information" states the president opf the Lyon branch, Yvette Genosy. 68 years of age, she has fought for 32 years "to inform ['faire savoir'] that scientology is neither a psychotherapi method nor a religion." Also called to the stand, Serge Faubert journalist from "L'Evenement de Jeudi" author of "Une secte au coeur de la Repuplique" ["A cult in the hear of the Republic"] works to demonstrate that "the running ['gestition'] of the church of scientology is controled from the United States by its hard core, OSA, or office of special affairs." According to him "the rest is just window-dressing ['une vitrine']." Today, witnesses called by the defense will attempt to explain otherwise. ======================================================================= 'Un homme eglise, chasseur de sectes' A man of the church, cult-chaser Francois Devinat Liberation, 4/10 -96, page 16 Copyright 1996 Liberation [picture of father Trouslard] ======================================================================= The man isn't born who could put father Trouslard at unease with his conscience because he fights sects from the cover of the catholic church. After an ironic statement that the catholic church was a "a sect which had made it," the priest who will appear as a witness in the trial of scientologists in Lyon jokes "the first christians never formed a sect in the perjatory sense of today. They were thrown to the lions first." [Long discussion of the ongoing battle of father Trouslard. Since he started going after all parareligious movements, he has collected death-threats. He wa sordained priest in 1948 at the age of 24 years. After working against poverty, he gained an interest in sect movements in 1982. A group of christian scholars around Laon lived a collective delusion under the cover of a paranoid curate. He visited 250 families, collected 70 kg of documentaion.] This first involvement allowed father Trouslard to esstablish a three stage strategy 1) collect evidence 2) push the "guru" of the sect by filing legal complaints denouncing his practices 3) confront vividly the lies in a public process. [Discussion of his struggle against 'Invitation a la Vie' - IVI [Invitation to Life]; against Abby Georges de Nantes who predicted his "execution"] Father Trouslard counters the accusation that his struggle aginst believers isn't christian with the statement "Who hurts man, hurts God." He is untouchable in the catholic hierachy due to his network of friends and the shield of his media attention ['boucle de sa mediatisation']. This freedom has permitted him to draw attention to certain practices of Opus Dei, a "holy mafia" supported by pope John-Paul II. "Sects take on a religious mask. Their strategy towards a recruit can be summed up in three words: seduction, destruction and reconstruction. I'm simply fighting to free the captives of an intellectual, moral and financial fraud." Tough fight against the dragon of false messiahs by a Saint George armed with a telephone in a crumbling office the size of a chambermaid's? This tranquil obstinate believes never to confuse "apostat" with crusading against "heretics." ======================================================================= 'Excommunie par un ministre' Excommunicated by a minister F.Dt Liberation, 4/10 -96, page 16 Copyright 1996 Liberation ======================================================================= [Discussion of the case of a movement 'L'Office culturel de Cluny' - OCC [The Cluny Cultural Office] a catholic group which is being denounced by Guy Drut, minister of youth and sport. OCC was formed in 1963 in the Cafe Cluny (that's one of the locals in my neighbourhood!). Although classified as a sect in the parliamentary report of earlier this year, the movement has support from a number of catholic bishops and disapproval of others. According to father Trouslard, the movement have sectarian characteristics in the psychological destruction of its members who live a mystic delerium.] ======================================================================= Comments: nice flowery prose in the piece about father Trouslard ;-) The testimonies of by Dr Abgrall focus on the destructive effect, mentally and physically, of the purif rundown. Cobined with the exorbitant prices charged for this treatment, this should catch the attention of the cort... Later Jens ------ No PGP signature, no authenticity. Vive La France!! ---------- Scientology[tm] ?? Check it out at http://www.scientology.org *and* http://www.cybercom.net/~rnewman/scientology/home.html Report interesting conclusions to alt.religion.scientology ;-)