MADRID, 28 (EUROPA PRESS) Spokesman for the church of Scientology, Luis Gonzalez, indicated today that in the reverend of the Universal Complutense, Dionisimo Llamarais, maintains its doctrine are a global response to the most pressing questions we face, uniting all the characteristics of a religion in accordance with the legal notion of such. This staffmember affirmed, in a communique recieved from the organization, that the way the church is financed does not eliminate its success or take away from its religious character. In its basic doctrines we do not find any hint or suggestion of permissiveness and less of aggression, affirmed the reverend.
In the same statement, the reverend of the "Derecho Procesal Andrés de la Oliva " assured that as regards the accusation that the association is illegal that has been levied against president of the church of scientology Intl Heber Jentzsch, that he was not able to find in the writings of the prosecutor, any element that could be construed to confirm that, that those that oppose social and cultural change in Europe are being discredited by the most competent authorities. The culture, the religiion and the ideas of european peoples are leaning more and more towards a major tolerance he said. Lastly, the spokesman of the organization affirmed that the judges, the academic world, the culture, and the citizens are taking the lead in the new cultural currents towards equality, tolerance and against racism and totalitarianism.
The tribunal postpones the start of the trial against Scientology until the 25th of September.
Madrid, 2 jun (EFE).
MADRID.- The tribunal that intended to begin deliberations beginning the 6th of June in the trial against members of the church of Scientology has suspended proceedings and fixed the trials start for the 25 th of September due to illness on the part of one of the lawyers on the defense team, according to information given to Efe through legal channels.
The judges of the "Audiencia Provincial de Madrid" explained that postponement of oral arguments was due to the request for leave from one of the lawyers of the defense team due to an illness for which he received a medical prescription for absolute bed rest. The trial had been set to begin next tuesday, after having suffered another delay the 3rd of May, when the Court based its supsension on a request from the defense team for the 17 accused to determine payments made to the Agencia Tributaria in order to regularize the numbers associated with the proceedings.
The prosecutor accuses the defendants of 12 crimes for which he asks different sentences: illegal organization, crimes against freedom and security in the workplace, against public health, fraud of the treasury, threats, falsifying credentials, illegal detention and usurpation of function, physical harm, false accusation, simulation and falsification of a crime.
The trial of the CHurch of SCn is again postponed until the 25th of September
>MADRID, 2 (EUROPA PRESS).- The " Audiencia Provincial de Madrid " has decided
>to postpone the trial expected to start next tuesday against well known church
>of scn until the 25th of September when one of the defense attorneys, Manuel
>Cobo del Rosal found himself ill.
The prosecutor is asking for a 56 year prison sentence for the american reverend Heber Jentzsch, worldwide leader of the church, and a total of 36 years of jail time for the other 16 followers.
The trial, which was started 16 years ago and has been postponed various times, has up to 150 witnesses.
The prosecutor described the development of the COS in Spain, its crimes of forming an illegal organization, crimes against the public good, tax evasion, impersonation, for giving medicines to drug addicts and pyschiatric treatments to its followers without professional qualifications to do so, threats, bodily injury, and attacks to those it considered "supressive".
In addition, he states that some of the accused committed crimes against the public health for administering prepareations in the rehabilitation centers, crimes involving labor abuses, for work conditions imposed on employees of the church, falsification or fabrication of a crime and false accusations for a staged robbery for the purpose of placing the blame on a "supressive" member of the church, upurpation of function and illegal detention of a person for the Bajrajas airport arrest of a member desiring to leave the church.
In February, the judge in that case ordered the detention of 37 scientologists that had formed what was called "Operacion Rocio", whne a total of 71 national and international followers of the organization met for a reunion in a Madrid hotel. Also registered for this reunion were 19 branches of the church from the capital, valencia, Barcelona, Alicante, Sevilla and Jerez.
Defense Theories
The defense insists the the prosecutor has made several mistakes in his evaluation of events. With respect to the crime of forming an illegal organization, they insist that belonging to Scientology consists solely of shared beliefs. They add that the numbers suggested by the PUblic Ministry in order to imply financial fraud were incorrectly obtained and that neither can they be accused of labor violations since members of its associations do not participate in social security. Lastly, they discredit any suggestion that physical injury due to lack of medical attention by victims, occurred. The crimes against public health did not occur because the substances administered to drug addicts were mearly vitamins, the crime of impersonation medical professionals the same, the illegal detention because there was a real arrest of the exmember by the police, not by members of the organization.
