Belgium accuses Scientologists, Nine members of the sect on various charges including fraud

March 30, 2003 Belgium accuses Scientologists Nine members of the sect on various charges including fraud Brussels' examining magistrate, Jean-Claude van Espen, has charged nine members of the Scientology sect with various offences, including fraud, invasion of privacy and illegally practising as pharmacist and doctor.
By Klaus Bachmann, Frankfurter Rundschau

BRUSSELS, 30th March. A spokesman for the public prosecutor's office has confirmed that proceedings are being instituted against the members of the sect who had been the subject of previous reports in the Belgian media. Apparently the action that has been taken is the consequence of 25 house searches carried out against Scientology in 1999. Investigations at the time had been triggered by a former member of the sect, who had demanded the repayment of the contributions and course fees he had paid. All nine accused are also being charged with being members of a criminal association It now remains only for the charges to be approved by the appropriate court.

Anticipation of the case against the members of Scientology Belgium - including some senior individuals - is creating considerable tension. La Libre Belgique, a French-language Catholic daily newspaper, reported that the house searches in 1999 had provided grounds for believing that several members of parliament, a journalist and members of the Belgian Gendarmerie (an organisation that has since been dissolved and absorbed into the local and federal police force) were also members of the sect. Furthermore, links with Belgium's extreme right wing had emerged during this operation.

A fact-finding parliamentary committee had included Scientology on the list of sects and classified it as "damaging and dangerous". The Scientology movement, which describes itself as a religion, protested against both the parliamentary report and the house searches. In a petition to Mary Robinson, the then UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, the Scientology organisation also demanded the return of 2000 files that had been seized by van Espen. To enhance their image after the knocks suffered as a result of the house searches and the judicial enquiry, the sect even organised an "Open Day" in Brussels in the autumn of last year.