More on the Lyon Scientology Trial

[Baba ROM DOS]

The criminal trial against the "Church" of Scientology[tm] in Lyon
is continuing to receive extensive media coverage in France. Liberation
has been giving the story about a page a day of reasonably accurate
and sometimes incisive coverage. As I happened to have been in Lyon
earlier this week, I was able to pick up a couple editions of the local
paper. Here's the article from yesterday's Le Progres:

Scientology: Of Blazing Successes

by Elaine Begue (translated by BRD)

Between the faithful who still rejoice at having discovered the works
of Ron Hubbard, and the apstates whose testimony speaks of harrasment
and coersion, outsiders are trying to understand the workings of the
Church of Scientology. Special Training, rapid advancement...
But the sky is just as hazy above the head of Jean-Jaques Mazier.

Ghislaine Huet, a natty, petite redhead, is a go-getter. The proof:
the TGV ride she made, along with her husband, into Scientology in 1987.

In "spiritual research", after having "tried Rosicrucianism for a month",
Ghislaine Huet, like so many others, discovered Dianetics flipping through
the personals section of a free weekly paper. She went to the center,
met Jean-Jacques Mazier, took a personality test and was "blown away"
by the accuracy of the evaluation, bought the book "Dianetics": "I read
it in two days, with my husband. We argued about it. We were both
very interested. Three days later, the young woman attended a seminar,
and on coming out signed a "religious engagement" of five years.
In two weeks, Ghislaine Huet had become staff of the Church of Scientology.
She went on to welcome new arrivals and evaluate personality tests.

Swift promotion is nothing rare in the church, if one believes the
various testimonies of the accused who were questioned yesterday
by Judge Lifshutz.

Alain Barou, the first to be questioned, abandoned his trade as a
plumber to become supervisor of the Dianetics center. After his
first auditing, they recommended a communication course to him.
Not very effective, as the testimony of the ex-plumber sometimes
reminded this layman of childhood problems with faucets. Thanks
to, or at least because of him, we learned that dianetics and
scientology are not exactly the same thing, that "pastoral counseling"
means auditing, that auditing means private confession with a
minister of the church.

Alain Barou did well with dianetic auditing, different from that
of Scientology where they use the E-meter. A little later we
would learn from Jean-Jacques Mezier that where five hours of Dianetic
auditing cost only 400 francs, you could even do without the counseling
of Scientologists: "It's sufficient to buy the book, and after one
has read the first 20 pages, one can audit someone. A couple can
easily do so at home".

And more was forthcoming. After a month and a half of training in
a center in Florida, Alain Borou became a "course supervisor".
The title sounds impressive, but the task doesn't seem too
difficult: "A supervisor brings the students into s classroom.
They come to study only the writings of Ron Hubbard. The
supervisor is there to help them advance spiritually. When
they ask questions, we explain to them in which of Hubbard's
works they will find the answer".

Following his quest, Alain Borou underwent a purification program,
Different according to each individual and his level of spiritual
progress, according to the young man. For him, it was a bit like
"killing off the old horses": every day, a half hour of running,
two or three hours of sauna after having taken vitamins whose
dosages are likewise very clearly set in... a book by Ron Hubbard.
Alain Borou, who had first consulted a doctor, had then "got back
my full health, and very clear thoughts". A renewal well worth the
100,000 francs paid out between 1990 and 1996.

We would learn a little later that, in speaking of money, Scientologists
prefer to use the word "donation". Never mind that this donation
is billed, that it absolutely must be paid before starting a course,
and that when, as in the case of the Huets, one is deeply in debt
to the church, one has no longer the right to participate in any programs.

In the same sort of "rapid advancement", Laurent Quoisse, who entered
Scientology at 18 years of age, dropped out of repeating his last
year of school to become first an auditor, then treasurer of the church.
An 18 year old auditor, bright enough to lead new members in recalling
painful memories of their pasts, done as "practice" free of charge
for his first few "clients", without any difficulty. A treasurer
so good that he had to help scientologists in Paris and Switzerland
to set up their books and to recover from the bankruptcy the church
was forced into in the early 1990's. Thanks to him, though he seems
incompletely aware of what has been going on around him, we learn
that Scientology auditing costs 18,000 francs for 12 and a half hours,
that the celebrated E-meter costs 25,000 francs to the church, who
resells it for 30,000, and that once a trial was set, they were quick
to pay off those parties to civil suits who were willing to settle
out of court, with the aid of money from foreign churches.

How is it that men and women could have accepted emptying their savings
accounts simply to study in a classroom books that they could just
as easily have read at home, to could subject themselves to quack
psychiatric practices, and today be very happy? Why not?

It was at the very end of the session when Judge Lifshutz recalled
Jean-Jacques Mazier to the stand, going over the statements of the
parties to civil suits who have since been paid. Among them, a man
and a woman under psychiatric treatment that the church had demanded
that they abandon: the man had to be rehospitalized in an emergency,
the woman had wiped out her nest egg to pay 40,000 for an E-meter.
Jean-Jacques Mazier was not without a ready denial: "We don't audit
people under psychiatric care. It cannot work". Never mind that
these two "apostates" had fully completed a questionaire on their
health on arrival, and that they, like others, had been asked to sign
a release form relieving the church of all responsibility...in case
of suicide.

Another contradiction, on the subject of the suicide of Patrice Vic.
According to Jean-Jacques Mazier, a member cannot begin the purification
treatment without his wife's consent, since "It cannot begin with a lie".
That did not prevent Jean-Jacques Mazier from explaining that one of
the checks destined for the Dianetics center had found its way into
his personal account by saying that he he had rendered services
to a member who wanted to keep his new religion secret...from his wife.

Movements of funds between the numerous accounts of Jean-Jacque Mazier
and the church, practices close to harassment and blackmail denounced
by some apostates, vitamins bought by the center "to fix" the faithful:
there will undoubtedly be many more questions in the days to come.
Simple answers will certinly not be coming from the accused. They are
all "Clear", but their understanding seems only to be among themselves.