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| "Goddammit Belgium!" |
After a long lasting legal battle Belgium prosecutors demand to label the Church of Scientology as a criminal organization and charge it and its leaders with extortion, fraud, privacy breaches, and the illegal practice of medicine.
The subpoenas have been sent to the scientologists, the local financial newspaper De Tijd reported.
The charges against the Church of Scientology stem from employment contracts issued to recruit volunteers and members allegedly breaching the country's strict employment laws. In Belgium as in some other countries Scientology is not recognized as a faith.
In 2008 the Belgium Labor Mediation Service complained about number of labor contracts, prompting an investigation.
A judge then ordered raids on Scientology premises where police allegedly “managed to seize a wealth of evidence,” that the organization had spied on and extorted money from its members, the Flanders News reported.
Belgian authorities have been legally battling Scientologists since 2007, when the country tried to label the movement as a cult. Around the same time Belgian prosecutors ruled that the Belgian Church of Scientology, plus Scientology's Office of Human Rights and their 12 members, should be charged with extortion, fraud, organized crime, illegal medical practice.
They were accused of practicing medicine without a license and violating privacy laws.
God I love this!
Now since they are going after false faiths that lie to the congregations and make impossible claims to in order to extort, who's next? I mean Belgium's not going to just stop there are they?
Oh, but of course they are. As if the crazy belief system embraced by Scientologists is REALLY any crazier than the one embraced by the adherents of any number of different faiths.
Oh well, baby steps. Perhaps someday we'll ALL finally get there.
