East
Grinstead Courier
2/22/78
Scientology boss gets jail term
On
Monday Scientologists demonstrated in front of the French Embassy.
Representatives delivered a letter to the French Ambassador to Britain
for forwarding to the French President. It called for an
investigation of the French legal system of trial in 'absentia.'
Ron
L. Hubbard, the American born founder of the Church of Scientology, who
turned Saint Hill Manor, East Grinstead, into the world headquarters of
the movement, was sentenced in his absence to four years in prison and
fined 35,000 Francs for fraud by the Paris Criminal Court last week.
The
court has issued a warrant for the arrest of Hubbard, who is in his
sixties and began the movement in 1952. He is thought to live on a
Panamanian registered yacht, cruising outside territorial waters off the
Bahamas.
The
case against him was brought by the French Public Prosecutor.
M.
Georges Andrews, President of the French branch of the Church, said to
have 10,000 members, was given a suspended prison term of one year and
fined 3,000 Francs.
The
Court said the Church of Scientology was a commercial enterprise which
"Through fanciful and misleading promises duped third
parties."
It
found that the Church made fraudulent promises to heal mental or other
illnesses and to make would-be members more financially successful in
life.
Prospective members were induced to pay for courses at a rate much
higher than the courses were worth, the court found.
The
court did not pronounce on the religious or philosophical base of the
Church, which has about two million members throughout the world.
Hubbard,
who bought Saint Hill Manor in 1959, was banned from re-entering Britain
in August, 1968, by the then Home Secretary and Minister of Health of
the day who stated in the Commons that the Government was satisfied
Scientology was socially harmful.
Under
pressure, the Government some three years later se up an inquiry into
the movement under Sir John Foster, who subsequently recommended that
the ban on foreign Scientologists be lifted.
The
Government is still refusing entry into the country of aliens who wish
to study or work in Scientology, despite strenuous efforts by the
movement to bring about a change of mind.
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