Scientology

From: Stacy Brooks <stacybrooks@mciworld.com>
Date: Mon, 17 Jul 2000 14:16:54 -0400
Organization: The Lisa McPherson Trust, 33 North Fort Harrison Avenue, Clearwater, Florida 33755 Telephone: (727) 467-9335 Fax: (727) 467-9345
Message-ID: <s0j6nsk7r2o3ed18vcb1igejrhddoappfs@4ax.com>


The following is a press release just issued by the Lisa McPherson Trust:

HEAD OF GERMANY'S SCIENTOLOGY TASK FORCE TO SPEAK IN CLEARWATER, FLORIDA, ANNOUNCES LISA MCPHERSON TRUST Clearwater, FL - The Lisa McPherson Trust will host a reception and press conference for Ursula Caberta, head of the Task Force on Scientology of the Hamburg, Germany, government, at 10 a.m.

on July 25, at the LMT offices located at 33 N. Ft. Harrison Ave. in Clearwater.

Mrs. Caberta will discuss recent revelations that German Scientologist Antje Victore submitted fraudulent documents to a Tampa, Florida, judge to obtain political asylum in the United States. Scientologists have hailed Victore, who now lives and works in Clearwater, as a martyr of religious persecution, but evidence recently published in the German magazine, Stern, suggests she left Germany to escape tax problems.

Mrs. Caberta, who knows Victore personally, will discuss the evidence brought to light in the Stern article, written by Christine Kruttschnitt.

In addition, Mrs. Caberta will highlight the activities of her task force and the harassment to which she has been subjected at the hands of the Scientology organization in Germany.

"Each day, every morning, Scientologists are picketing from 8 a.m. to 9 a.m. at my office. They tell my boss he has to fire me," she said. "Fire her! Fire her!" Mrs. Caberta added that Scientologists have also distributed fliers throughout Hamburg that attack her character.

Mrs. Caberta will also discuss the case of a German former Scientologist who has brought suit against Scientology in Clearwater, Berlin and Copenhagen for lost wages and imprisonment. The suit claims he was held prisoner for two weeks in a six-foot square, windowless room in Clearwater, and that he was subjected to "psychological torture."

Additionally, Mrs. Caberta will detail her extensive investigation of commercial fraud by Scientology-run companies in Germany, under the direction of Scientology's secular business arm known as the World Institute of Scientology Enterprises, or WISE.

Mrs. Caberta served as an expert on the Enquete Commission of the Parliament of the Federal Republic of Germany, which conducted an investigation of cults, including Scientology, from 1996 to 1998. Prior to heading up the task force, she served as the foreign and legal affairs representative in the Hamburg Parliament.

A live audio stream will be available on the LMT website, http://www.lisatrust.net, during the conference, and an archive of the event will be available at the website after the conference. Press and/or government officials may contact Karin D. Case at the Lisa McPherson Trust at 727-467-9335 for an invitation to the conference.