http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/333/nation/The_World_Today+.shtml The Boston Globe - 29 November 2001
The World Today
By Globe Staff and Wires, 11/29/2001
BELGIUM Scientologists suing over sect classification BRUSSELS - The Church of Scientology said yesterday that it was suing the Belgian state for moral damages after a 1997 parliamentary report qualified the organization as a ''sect.'' The organization, which has about 2,000 members in the country, said it had filed a lawsuit against the state in a Brussels court, seeking a symbolic one euro in moral damages. The first hearing is to be held on Dec. 13. Martin Weightman, director of human rights for the organization in Europe, said the label breached the European Human Rights Convention. Weightman said the report had later been used ''to incite numerous incidents of intolerance and discrimination'' against Scientologists. (Reuters) -- From: cep@at.com (cep)
Subject: Re: BELGIUM - Scientologists suing over sect classification
Date: Fri, 30 Nov 2001 11:02:00 GMT
Organization: cep@at.com
Message-ID: <3c0e66fa.6860149@tyrannewsaurus.xs4all.nl>
On Fri, 30 Nov 2001 09:44:06 GMT cep@at.com (cep) wrote in<3c085467.2104765@tyrannewsaurus.xs4all.nl> :

>Scientologists suing over sect classification
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Archive/Article/0,4273,4310335,00.html Scientologists take Belgium to court Andrew Osborn Guardian Friday November 30, 2001 The Church of Scientology says it is suing the Belgian state over an official report that labelled it a dangerous sect and accused it of brainwashing.

The lawsuit has been lodged as Belgium's authorities pursue a separate investigation of the group after allegations of fraud, forgery and tax evasion.

Citing the European convention on human rights, the movement argues that it is a bona fide religious minority which has suffered discrimination at the hands of "intolerant" secular authorities and that its reputation has been sullied.

The offending report, drawn up by the Belgian parliament four years ago, put the Church of Scientology on a blacklist of 189 "dangerous sects"

and said it intimidated and manipulated its own members.

Martin Weightman, a Briton who heads the movement's European human rights office, said the allegations were "absurd and ridiculous".

"The report was done without any possibility to respond, the list was arbitrary and the terminology used was discriminatory. It poisoned the social climate," he said. In their lawsuit - due for an initial court hearing on December 13 - the Scientologists are seeking symbolic damages to the tune of one euro (62p).

Belgium's investigation of the group - triggered by a former member who complained she had been defrauded of some £17,000 in membership and course fees - is not yet finished and the authorities hold several tonnes of papers and "membership files" confiscated in a series of raids in 1999.

The movement was founded in 1954 by the late American science fiction writer L Ron Hubbard. The Belgian branch is estimated to have up to 10,000 [70 or 80] members.

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