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CAP
LC 2008
www.coordiap.com |
|
REPORT
ON DISCRIMINATION AGAINST
SPIRITUAL AND THERAPEUTICAL MINORITIES IN FRANCE
Testimonies
: Introduction 1st
page 2nd 3rd
4th 5th 6th
7th Conclusion
Testimony
#11
Paris, March 3, 2000
Jacques,
a Celtic priest, and his parishioners have seen their lives ruined and cannot
obtain justice in French courts.
"Arc-en-Ciel" centers have existed in Brittany for 25 years. In
these centers, one can practice yoga, sophrology [a therapy based on relaxation
and hypnosis techniques,] and meditation. We are therapists, energy practitioners,
and phytotherapists [herbal medicine.] We also sell nutritional products.
Like myself, some who attend are religious. I am a Celtic orthodox priest.
Our centers had no problems prior to the October 1994 publication of an article
in Paris-Match magazine that misrepresented "Arc-en-Ciel" as the
Brittany branch of the Order of the Solar Temple (OTS). Because the article
cited documents supposedly from the Renseignements Généraux,
I visited this government agency's offices in Rennes. I asked if there was
anything we could be accused of even though I had no idea what such a thing
could be. Everyone I spoke to in Renseignements Généraux explicitly
assured me there was nothing against us.
We lodged a complaint against Paris-Match and a court case followed. Paris-Match's
so-called "Renseignements Généraux" documents were
exposed as fabrications. We learned the Rennes anti-cult group ADFI was behind
it all. At the magistrate's court, Paris-Match was sentenced to pay one million
francs damages to the "Arc-en-Ciel" association.
Paris-Match appealed this verdict and soon introduced false testimony of someone
who had frequented our center. That person's perjury-given in writing to ADFI
and by ADFI to Paris-Match-accused me of being a personal friend of Luc Jouret,
leader of the Order of the Solar Temple. The allegations said I had studied
naturopathy with Jouret in Switzerland. I am not a naturopath, and have never
once been in Switzerland.
The perjurer also gave Jeanine Tavernier (president of UNADFI, the headquarters
of ADFI) other documents that were obviously fake and were declared inadmissible
during the appeal. Even so, the appeal reduced the judgment against Paris-Match
down to 120,000 francs.
I lodged a complaint for false testimony and the Rennes SRPJ (judicial police)
investigated for a year and a half. They concluded that "Arc-en-Ciel"
has never had any contact with Solar Temple.
As the Paris-Match/ADFI appeal occurred just before the infamous parliamentary
report, "Arc-en-Ciel" is not listed as a cult. But the small religious
association of which I am the head clergyman is listed as a cult. Though our
prayer services have only 20 attendees, we are misrepresented as a sprawling
and dangerous association with 500 members. I have visited the Rennes Archdiocese
and they do not understand at all what happened.
My purpose is to ensure that certain truths be re-established. Because the
perjury proceedings were stalled, last year I lodged a complaint for slanderous
denunciation against X [action against person unknown] and against ADFI's
Jeanine Tavernier, with the dean of the investigation magistrate of Paris.
My complaint has been accepted and the investigation is ongoing with Judge
Stephan in Paris.
Since 1994, "Arc-en-Ciel" has been afflicted with this huge, slanderous
ball and chain of erroneous accusations that falsely associate us with OTS.
Practically all the centers are financially ruined and no longer operate.
Some have nothing left.
Nothing can be done at the associative level in Rennes. I have visited the
Prefecture; they regret the situation, but can do nothing. We have written
letter after letter. But all official French doors remain closed.
Testimony #12
Paris, March 3, 2000
The
artistic and creative work by members of the Iso-Zen movement has been stifled.
Here is Thierry's testimony:
I am a musician and graphic artist. My religious movement embraces many other
artists, musicians, dancers, and designers. As occurred to a number of other
groups, media attacks on us began after the alleged "collective suicide"
in Guyana. Spiritual communities or research groups that were in any way original
or unusual were suddenly under suspicion.
As a group, we have always been cognizant of the huge difference between our
ideal, our aspirations, our personal life experiences versus the media's hallucinations
based on rumors, idiotic interpretations, and people whose only motives are
to hurt others.
We have been accused of the craziest rumors: arms and drug trafficking, prostitution,
on and on-acts totally contrary to our beliefs and to what we daily portray
in our artistic works. Those outside France cannot imagine the horrific fantasies
that are projected onto anyone who tries to have a slightly original and different
life here.
Because of France's suffocating intellectual and artistic climate, and because
we had always dreamed about a safe desert island, we relocated to Polynesia.
For most of us this experience was extraordinary. As we began to grow and
build an international following, managing it from the Pacific became difficult.
But as soon as we returned to France in 1989, we ran into the anti-spiritual
inquisition climate that has become an integral part of French life.
In April 1996, a few months after the slaughter of the Order of the Solar
Temple and the French parliamentary report on cults, a woman who had embezzled
money from our group published an anti-cult book. Though many publishers refused
her manuscript, one of them sought to capitalize on the media frenzy against
minority religions.
Some 12 years earlier, this woman had joined our group and made off with a
large sum of money from our members. She had come to Polynesia where we had
formed up teams and crews to buy ships. Each crew was to finance its own ship.
She and her companion volunteered to buy and bring back a boat from South
America for her crew. She disappeared with their hard-earned money. The court
sentenced her companion but we have never seen her again.
Even so, ADFI welcomed her with open arms and, from all evidence, helped her
write "her" book. In it, her experiences with our group are entirely
misinterpreted through the dark glasses of ADFI. She and ADFI completely ignore
the many and highly positive testimonials published in interviews or books
by creators and authors participating in our activities.
ADFI's larger campaign has been a textbook model of a media lynching: dozens
of articles, radio and TV shows with no effort at all to find the truth, and
to which we have no way to respond or correct for the public. We participated
in two stories which, by some strange coincidence, have been constantly delayed
and never broadcast.
One day I was at my parents' home during the afternoon news. The woman who
had stolen our money was on the air with a caption describing us as "the
most dangerous cult in France," even though we were not well known and
had no problems with the law. Without basis in fact or documentation, her
every word was designed to instill fear and incite mistrust of our group.
It was clear she hoped to be sued and gain more publicity. We refused to play
that game. Given the media and political context of the times, what chance
was there to have the truth heard?
Most recently, the embezzler has organized her own anti-cult organization
and is seeking government grants.
This repeated history of malicious media persecution clearly demonstrates
that it is impossible, in today's France, to lead a creative life in a spiritual
field.
Testimony #13
Paris, March 3, 2000
Maité
and the members of her group were raided without a search warrant and were
subjected to mental and physical abuse, including the children. She was jailed
for months on unproven charges.
I founded Horus, an agrarian community in Ardèche. Our specialty is
a particular form of organic farming. We grow giant vegetables without fertilizers.
It is an ancient method, which has been used and proven over 6,000 years.
The trouble started as soon as we, naively, spoke out publicly about this
method of farming, saying, "In the end, if one applies our method, all
French agriculture can forego the use of fertilizers and pesticides."
One morning, in September 1991, at 10 a.m., the police entered my private
property, with no search warrant. They were accompanied by some representatives
of the anti-cult group ADFI from Aix-en-Provence, Saint-Etienne, Lyons and
Grenoble, with people they said were our "grandparents" - but whom
none of us knew. The media also was present, cameras in their hands, to "just
come and talk with us," or so they said. During this encounter, I was
assaulted both verbally and physically while the police just turned their
faces away and pretended not to see.
A TV report in the show Envoyé Spécial had ignited this whole
situation. The journalist who was responsible for this, a married man, had
been seeing a woman from our community for years. He also took part in the
children's theatrical plays. One day he told us that in order to change any
negative opinions people might have about us, he would make a film to show
exactly what we were doing. Then on January 4, 1996, we saw the show: The
film was completely manipulated and falsified to make us look bad - all the
scenes had been set up and filmed to give the image of a dangerous cult. We
were surprised and shocked. We had been welcoming this man in our community
for many years. He knew many of us. Just to give one example of his lies,
he asked the children to play in a field and then filmed them behind a fence
of barbed wire to make it look like they were being restrained.
We went through a nightmare, especially where the children were concerned.
The police came to question us and to see whether the children were in good
health, implying that they may have been victims of sexual abuse. There was
a mother with us who was a midwife. Even though she was breast-feeding her
baby, they forcibly took it away from her, without telling her where they
were taking it. She searched desperately for her child for a week. The police
also seized and took away records and files from many scientists who were
doing research on new agricultural techniques.
I myself was kept in jail for eight months. I was accused of non-assistance
to a person in danger and of practice of illegal medicine, when in fact I
had never practiced medicine in any way. I was also sentenced for opening
a school that never existed. The parents in our group had simply taken their
children out of the regular schools and were home-schooling them, which is
in no way against the law.
One of our members was an engineer and a teacher with a doctorate. He was
forced to leave his job due to his belonging to a so-called "cult."
He was given no opportunity to reply to the charges or defend himself. The
sentence has now been canceled, but he has lost his job for good. He no longer
has any money nor a source of income, and yet he has four children to take
care of.
Testimony #14
Marseilles, March 29, 2000
Doctor
Juliette B. is a medical doctor. She has been debarred for life from the French
Medical Association.
I am trained in acupuncture, homeopathy, sophrology, tropical medicine, hygiene
and preventive medicine. Our association was a group of friends, scientists,
researchers and physicians, whose goal was to research solutions to pollution
and hunger in the world.
One day a little boy from our group developed a respiratory problem. The doctor
who examined him diagnosed Lyme's disease, which is transmitted by ticks,
and had him sent to the hospital. A week later I was accused of failure to
vaccinate the child, but I had in fact vaccinated him myself and he had a
valid Diphtheria / Tetanus / Poliomyelitis vaccination certificate. The newspaper
ran an article about me, and claimed that the child had died of tetanus-but
the child is in very good health now and he obviously never had tetanus.
I was summoned before the Council of the Medical Association for non-vaccination
and they debarred me from the Association. Then I was charged with failure
to render assistance to a person in danger, forgery and use of forged documents.
All this when the child had been normally vaccinated, the certificate was
genuine, and there was no failure to render assistance to a person in danger
since the child was rushed to the hospital immediately, as soon as his breathing
problem occurred.
After this incident, a force of about 200 policemen raided our center at 6am.
They carried out simultaneous raids on other locations where we had friends.
We were afraid because they were all holding submachine guns. They forcibly
separated the children from their parents and took them to the DDASS (Social
Services department) for mandatory examinations. The children were thoroughly
examined from head to foot, and the girls were subject to anal and vaginal
examinations in front of the policemen. You can imagine the psychological
trauma.
The harassment did not stop. Every pretext was used against us. The many positive
testimonies we had from people who worked with our group were never taken
into account. Charges were made and never withdrawn. In the tribunal some
important letters disappeared, especially a letter from the child's file written
by the physician who sent the child to the hospital. It clearly established
the diagnosis of Lyme's disease. As soon as we asked for this letter it disappeared.
When we complained we were treated as if we were crazy. They said, and wrote,
that the letter never existed! By chance, our lawyer, our family and other
persons had seen that letter. The parents of the child, disgusted, decided
to leave French territory until that letter reappears as they no longer trust
the French justice system. They are accused of being irresponsible parents
who did not take good care of their children and who put them in a cult. They
face six years in prison if they come back. We were all threatened with death!
One night, at 5 PM, we found journalists freezing in their car. One of them
told us his boss had asked him to be there because, with the shock we had
experienced, we were at risk, we might commit mass suicide. They wanted to
be there for the scoop... We breed chicken on our farm and we use a small
infrared lamp that turns on automatically at about 3 AM when the temperature
gets too cold. When the journalists saw this light they thought we were setting
fires to kill ourselves! They were so scared they did not dare get out of
their car! That was actually funny.
I have already spent seven-and-a-half months in prison, first as a defendant
and then as a convict. Since my case is still in the Supreme Court I may have
to spend another year in prison although I have done nothing wrong professionally
or as a citizen. No official complaint has been lodged-all this is based on
rumors. I believe this has been done intentionally by certain anti-cult groups
bent on destroying us. We were a small group, not international, the perfect
target.
I asked for an appeal before the State Council, But the Medical Association
refused, saying there were no grounds for an appeal. I am therefore debarred
for life. Anyway, as my colleague Dr. Scohy said, I am not so unhappy to be
excluded from that cult!
Testimony #15
Paris, March 3, 2000
Héléna
is a member of an organization with two million members worldwide. In France,
many of its 4,000 French members have been harassed, defamed, and prevented
from working.
Sukyo Mahikari has existed in Japan for 40 years, in France for 28 years.
A 1996 French parliamentary report labeled us an "oriental healing cult."
Information in the report was false and self-contradictory. At one point it
said we are a sectarian movement with 50 to 500 members, then a few pages
later it stated we had 15,000 members.
After the report was published, false articles about us started to appear
in the press. We were always denied the right to respond.
The police raided one of our centers in Normandy. They seized the accounts
books and took sacred objects from the home of the local leader. The leaders
were placed under close watch for 24 hours and then released as the police
could find no wrongdoing.
In 1998 we were subjected to a tax audit. The auditor could not tax us as
a profitable enterprise so he tried to apply a 60% tax to our donations, which
would have crippled us.
Many of our members are excluded from work. Two nurses had their licenses
revoked because they belong to a "cult." One member was fired when
social workers noticed a Japanese altar in her bedroom. A member who was director
of programming for a radio station in Martinique was fired for belonging to
our movement.
In 1999 we were named in press articles as part of an "apocalyptic cults"
campaign. The police watched our centers in Guadeloupe and around Paris. They
made confusing statements that we had a "complicated survival apparatus"
while at the same time implying we were intent on suicide.
Testimony #16
Paris, March 3, 2000
Dominique
and his wife were headmasters of a private school which they were forced to
closed down.
A journalist from VSD (a national magazine) came to do an article on our school.
His article was full of praise but he denounced the fact that my companion
and I were former members of the Raël movement.
This prompted a tax audit and a visit from an inspector known as the "Mr.
Cult" of the National Education Ministry. He carried out a raid-like
search of the classrooms, going through the children's and teachers' bags,
but found nothing out of the ordinary. Then he noticed a big painting the
children had done on a classroom wall. The painting stopped at the Revolution
simply because they did not have time to go further. The inspector started
fantasizing that "a school from the Raël movement" was an elitist
school based on "geniocracy." According to him the drawing stopped
at the Revolution because we refused to accept democracy. The TV stations
had been informed of the inspector's visit and the cameras were waiting outside.
Many articles appeared in the newspapers. The parents got scared and our student
numbers dwindled from around 100 down to 50.
Some parents continued to support us as they believed in what we were doing,
but eventually we were forced to file bankruptcy. All the investors in the
school lost their money, and my companion and myself are in debt as we cosigned
for the loans.
Our school was doing really well with good results on the children, but we
were destroyed because we belonged long ago to the Raël movement.
Testimony
#17
Paris, March 3, 2000
Claude's
organization was raided, he was subjected to media attacks and fired from
his job.
I was employed as a manager at a spiritual research establishment named La
Maison de Jean (Jean's House). I was also the manager of another company.
These were both volunteer activities and I received no salary from either.
I supported myself by working as a management executive in a training organization.I
had a difference of opinion with a friend. She had never been a member of
the establishment. The details of our disagreement are too lengthy to go into
here, but suffice it to say that the situation became worse and she wanted
to do something which would cause trouble for us. As our establishment pertained
to spiritual matters, and there is so much bad press in France right now about
this kind of thing, she thought it would be smart to accuse us of being a
cult and went to see ADFI and the police department as well as some of our
associates with the intention of destroying our organization.
Several complaints were made at the magistrates' court and civil proceedings
were started against the president of our organization, but we had done nothing
illegal and so there was no result. We even tried to make contact with ADFI
so that we might know what we had been accused of, but each time they refused
to have communication with us.
Our enemies even denounced us to the police about completely invented operations.
Though false, this was enough to start an investigation. One morning, the
police came to our offices, and also searched our private homes. I was taken
from my workplace and held for 48 hours. Again, as I mentioned previously,
I am a management executive. Yet, I was taken with some colleagues to the
Court of Justice in Paris where we spent a night underground, with cockroaches
and other creatures!
In the meantime, there had been a raid of our premises and systematic interrogation
of other members of our organization and the people connected to us. At first,
the police approached these people as if they were the "victims"
of our organization and when they refused to state this or to recognize things
which did not exist, the police said that they must be our "accomplices."
The technique is simple: the people connected are either victims, or they
are accomplices.
The organization's and the company's accounts have been suspended leading
to the dismissal of our employees. During the raid, the police seized invoices
addressed to our clients. They communicated these details to our detractors
who then contacted our clients and told them that we are a cult. If the police
had not given out these details, we would not have had to endure what we did.
Following this, tax audits were conducted on every one of the individuals
involved and the legal entities.
When the police saw that there was no reaction in the company where I was
working, they sent four inspectors - the big show - to question my boss and
to ask if by any chance I had proselytized in the company. My boss held on
for one month and when the police found out that I still had not left, they
threatened to kick up a scandal for the director. The police did everything
they could to have me fired. As a result, I found myself with no job and actually
with no career as I am self-educated and had worked my way up in the company
to a middle management position.
I was no longer able to pay the mortgage on my flat and had to sell it. I
have been looking for a job, but no one will employ me as the police have
taken the necessary steps to make it known that I had been reproached by them.
In 1995, a fire broke out in our premises. The insurance regarded it as a
natural disaster and agreed to pay compensation without any problem. Then
in 1996, a parliamentary report was published in which we were listed. After
this, the insurance company refused to pay for the fire and lodged a civil
complaint. There was another raid, this time in our new premises, with more
arrests under surveillance, for a fire which we had no responsibility for.
The final result was that the case was dismissed, but the other case which
we have against the insurance company for the payment of the insurance for
the 1995 fire is still unresolved and the only reason given is: "They
are a cult, they set their own premises on fire."
From the media, we have received all the usual cliches and defamation typically
used against spiritual minorities. The TV channel Canal + dragged us in the
mud and there was nothing we could do about it. We currently have a court
case going on against FR 3 (TV channel) for slander and false testimony.
Testimony #18
Paris, 3 March 2000
Christian
is a psycho-sociologist and manager of a training company. He has lost many
contracts.
As a psycho-sociologist, I've been manager of a training organization for
about 15 years. My first "mistake" was to teach various psychological
disciplines, in particular PNL - neuro-linguistic programming- which is sometimes
labeled a cult. In my seminars for large companies and government departments,
I often speak about spirituality. However I've never belonged to any spiritual,
religious, or mystical organization.
In 1994, I started a political movement which presented a list of candidates
for the European elections to defend freedom of thought and freedom of choice
over healing methods. This must have upset some government officials: The
June 1999 Parliamentary report called "Cults and Money" listed my
company as a branch of Scientology although I've never had any relationship
whatsoever with Scientology.
In 1996, my company was prosperous with a turnover of a little more than 6
million francs. Today we have trouble making half this figure as I have to
spend time and effort handling suspicions and questions. As a result I've
lost several contracts over the last few months.
One of my associates went to ask Mrs. Jeanine Tavernier [from ADFI] for a
'good cult' certificate to have the right to work. She said : "Ah, don't
ask me for any documents ...!" That is where we stand today.
Today as an educator, if you want to work for big European or French companies
which have read the parliamentary report "Cults and Money", you
have to ask ADFI for a certificate of good behavior.
Testimonies : Introduction 1st page 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th Conclusion