Scientology documents disappear from French courthouse

[October 16, 1998]

This week, French Justice Minister Elisabeth Guigou announced an investigation into the disappearance of hundreds of court documents from the Palais de Justice, Paris' main courthouse, concerning judicial action pending against the Church of Scientology.

French judicial officials, requesting they remain unidentified, have not released information concluding whether the documents were stolen or misplaced. A Church of Scientology attorney claim it's ''out of the question'' that church members were involved in the disappearance of these missing legal documents.

However, days after these same documents were discovered missing from a Paris court, computer files compiled and prepared by an interministerial group on sects, also vanished. According to the daily Le Parisien, these files consisted of names, addresses, correspondence and detailed reports. The Le Parisien added that, due to this serious security problem, the group was replaced with a more stringent anti-sect task force endowed with wider-ranging powers.

Olivier Morice, an attorney representing a victims' group, commented, "Whether it's a robbery or a malfunction, it's unacceptable.'' Current task force members feel the above two instances aren't a coincidence, nor are the threatening phone calls and harassment the members routinely receive, including one incident when a member's home was broken into several weeks ago.

In addition, last year a Lyon court reduced the sentence of a Church of Scientology leader convicted of involuntary homicide, waived the conviction of nine Scientologists on charges of theft, complicity or abuse of confidence, and reduced the fines of four others. An appeal addressing these decisions is currently pending.

Source: Associated Press October 15, 1998