サイエントロジー、詐欺で有罪判決（フランス）

　イギリスBBCのニュース他によると、フランスの裁判所が、サイエントロジーに対して詐欺罪で有罪判決を下しました。

　この事件が立件される直前に、詐欺に関する刑事法が改正されたため、詐欺罪での法人解散は実現しなかったようですが、パリにあるサイエントロジーのセレブリティーセンターとブックストアに対しては60万ユーロの罰金刑、フランスのサイエントロジーのトップであるアラン・ローゼンバーグ（Alain Rosenberg）に罰金3万ユーロおよび執行猶予付きの禁固２年の刑が言い渡されたようです。このほかに3人の幹部に対しても、5000ユーロ以上の罰金刑と10ヶ月以上の執行猶予付きの禁固刑が言い渡されたようです。

　過去10年間で、何人かのサイエントロジー・メンバーについて詐欺罪や虚偽広告で立件された事件があったようですが、団体としてのサイエントロジーに対する詐欺罪での立件は今回が初めてのものだったようです。

【BBC 2009年10月27日】Scientologists convicted of fraud

A French court has convicted the Church of Scientology of fraud, but stopped short of banning the group from operating in France.

Two branches of the group's operations and several of its leaders in France have been fined.

The case came after complaits from two women, one of whom said she was manipulated into paying more than 20,000 euros (£18,100) in the 1990s.

France regards Scientology as a sect, not a religion.

Prosecutors had asked for the group's French operations to be dissolved and more heavily fined, but a legal loophole prevented any ban.

Instead, a judge ordered the Church's Celebrity Centre and a bookshop to pay a 600,000 euro fine.

Alain Rosenberg, the group's head in France, was handed a two-year suspended jail sentence and fined 30,000 euros.

Three other leading members of the group were also fined.

Ban 'still possible'

Unlike the US, France has always refused to recognise Scientology as a religion, arguing that it is a purely commercial operation designed to make as much money as it can at the expense of often vulnerable victims, the BBC's Emma Jane Kirby reports from Paris.

Scientology official Eric Roux at court in Paris, 27 October 2009
Religious freedom is in danger in this country
Eric Roux
French Celebrity Centre spokesman

Over the past 10 years, France has taken several individual members of the group to court on charges of fraud and misleading publicity, but this is the first time the organisation itself has been charged, she says.

In the case leading up to Tuesday's ruling, a woman said she was sold expensive life-improvement courses, vitamins and other products after taking a personality test.

A second woman alleges she was fired by her Scientologist boss after refusing to undergo testing and sign up to courses.

The Church denied that any mental manipulation took place.

The court was unable to impose a ban because of a legal amendment that was passed just before the trial began, preventing the banning of a organisation convicted of fraud.

However, that amendment has now been changed.

"It is very regrettable that the law quietly changed before the trial," Georges Fenech, the head of the Inter-ministerial Unit to Monitor and Fight Cults, told French TV.

"The system has now been put in place by parliament and it is certain that in the future, if new offences are committed, a ban could eventually be pronounced," he said.

A lawyer defending Scientology's operations in France said there would be an appeal.

Eric Roux, a spokesman for the Celebrity Centre, urged France to recognise Scientology's "legality".

"Religious freedom is in danger in this country," he said.

The Church of Scientology was founded in 1954 by the late science fiction writer L Ron Hubbard, and includes Hollywood stars such as John Travolta and Tom Cruise.

　被害女性（2人）は、性格テストを受けた後、精神操作され、合計2万ユーロにのぼる高額なコース、ビタミン剤、その他の商品を購入させられたと言います。　
　
　サイエントロジー側は、信教の自由の危機だとして、控訴の意向を表明しているようです。

　冒頭に述べた、刑事法は、この事件の公判が始まってから再改正されていますので、次に同様の事件で有罪になれば、サイエントロジーは解散させられる可能性があります。

【参考】　この判決を報じているその他のニュースサイト

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