PART I
PART II
Excerpt:
“In France, the organisation was recently convicted of fraud and it is also facing charges in Belgium. Meanwhile, in the USA a number of former high-ranking Scientology executives have broken their silence about the organisation, talking to the St Petersburg Times in Florida where its international headquarters are located. The executives say they witnessed the head of the organisation, David Miscavige, assault staff members dozens of times and they say he also urged others to commit assault. The executives also claim the organisation has used blackmail and threats against former members and perceived critics of the organisation, and that the organisation has knowingly repeatedly obstructed justice. Claims have also been made that information provided to the organisation by members during what are known as auditing sessions, which are a crude hybrid of confession and counselling and for which the organisation claims so-called priest penitent privilege, was then used to blackmail and manipulate members.”
“What we are seeing is a worldwide pattern of abuse and criminality. On the body of evidence this is not happening by accident; it is happening by design. Scientology is not a religious organisation. It is a criminal organisation that hides behind its so-called religious beliefs. What you believe does not mean you are not accountable for how you behave. The letters received by me which were written by former followers in Australia contain extensive allegations of crimes and abuses that are truly shocking—crimes against them and crimes they say they were coerced into committing. There are allegations of false imprisonment, coerced abortions, embezzlement of church funds, physical violence, intimidation, blackmail and the wide-spread and deliberate abuse of information obtained by the organisation. It is alleged that information about suspicious deaths and child abuse has been destroyed, and one follower has admitted he was coerced by the organisation into perjuring himself during investigations into the deaths of his two daughters.”