Church of Scientology convicted of fraud in Paris

A PARIS court yesterday convicted the Church of Scientology of fraud and fined it more than half a million euro — but stopped short of banning the group as requested by prosecutors.

The group’s French branch immediately announced it would appeal the verdict.

The court convicted the Church of Scientology’s French office, its library and six of its leaders of fraud. Investigators said the group pressured members into paying large sums of money for questionable financial gain and used “commercial harassment” against recruits.

The group was fined €400,000 and the library €200,000. Four of the leaders were given suspended sentences of between 10 months and two years. The other two were given fines of €1,000 and €2,000.

The court did not order the Church of Scientology to shut down, ruling that it would be likely to continue its activities anyway, “outside any legal framework”.

Prosecutors had requested that the group be dissolved in France and be fined €2 million.

The Los Angeles-based Church of Scientology, founded in 1954 by the late science fiction writer L Ron Hubbard, has been active for decades in Europe, but has struggled to gain status as a religion.