More on the Lyon Scientology Trial Page 1 ======== The criminal trial against the "Church" of Scientology[tm] in Lyon is continuing to receive extensive media coverage in France. Liberation has been giving the story about a page a day of reasonably accurate and sometimes incisive coverage. As I happened to have been in Lyon earlier this week, I was able to pick up a couple editions of the local paper. Here's the article from yesterday's Le Progres: Scientology: Of Blazing Successes by Elaine Begue (translated by BRD) Between the faithful who still rejoice at having discovered the works of Ron Hubbard, and the apstates whose testimony speaks of harrasment and coersion, outsiders are trying to understand the workings of the Church of Scientology. Special Training, rapid advancement... But the sky is just as hazy above the head of Jean-Jaques Mazier. Ghislaine Huet, a natty, petite redhead, is a go-getter. The proof: the TGV ride she made, along with her husband, into Scientology in 1987. In "spiritual research", after having "tried Rosicrucianism for a month", Ghislaine Huet, like so many others, discovered Dianetics flipping through the personals section of a free weekly paper. She went to the center, met Jean-Jacques Mazier, took a personality test and was "blown away" by the accuracy of the evaluation, bought the book "Dianetics": "I read it in two days, with my husband. We argued about it. We were both very interested. Three days later, the young woman attended a seminar, and on coming out signed a "religious engagement" of five years. In two weeks, Ghislaine Huet had become staff of the Church of Scientology. She went on to welcome new arrivals and evaluate personality tests. Swift promotion is nothing rare in the church, if one believes the various testimonies of the accused who were questioned yesterday by Judge Lifshutz. Alain Barou, the first to be questioned, abandoned his trade as a plumber to become supervisor of the Dianetics center. After his first auditing, they recommended a communication course to him. Not very effective, as the testimony of the ex-plumber sometimes reminded this layman of childhood problems with faucets. Thanks to, or at least because of him, we learned that dianetics and scientology are not exactly the same thing, that "pastoral counseling" means auditing, that auditing means private confession with a minister of the church. Alain Barou did well with dianetic auditing, different from that of Scientology where they use the E-meter. A little later we would learn from Jean-Jacques Mezier that where five hours of Dianetic auditing cost only 400 francs, you could even do without the counseling of Scientologists: "It's sufficient to buy the book, and after one has read the first 20 pages, one can audit someone. A couple can easily do so at home". And more was forthcoming. After a month and a half of training in a center in Florida, Alain Borou became a "course supervisor". The title sounds impressive, but the task doesn't seem too difficult: "A supervisor brings the students into s classroom. They come to study only the writings of Ron Hubbard. The supervisor is there to help them advance spiritually. When they ask questions, we explain to them in which of Hubbard's works they will find the answer". More on the Lyon Scientology Trial Page 2 Following his quest, Alain Borou underwent a purification program, Different according to each individual and his level of spiritual progress, according to the young man. For him, it was a bit like "killing off the old horses": every day, a half hour of running, two or three hours of sauna after having taken vitamins whose dosages are likewise very clearly set in... a book by Ron Hubbard. Alain Borou, who had first consulted a doctor, had then "got back my full health, and very clear thoughts". A renewal well worth the 100,000 francs paid out between 1990 and 1996. We would learn a little later that, in speaking of money, Scientologists prefer to use the word "donation". Never mind that this donation is billed, that it absolutely must be paid before starting a course, and that when, as in the case of the Huets, one is deeply in debt to the church, one has no longer the right to participate in any programs. In the same sort of "rapid advancement", Laurent Quoisse, who entered Scientology at 18 years of age, dropped out of repeating his last year of school to become first an auditor, then treasurer of the church. An 18 year old auditor, bright enough to lead new members in recalling painful memories of their pasts, done as "practice" free of charge for his first few "clients", without any difficulty. A treasurer so good that he had to help scientologists in Paris and Switzerland to set up their books and to recover from the bankruptcy the church was forced into in the early 1990's. Thanks to him, though he seems incompletely aware of what has been going on around him, we learn that Scientology auditing costs 18,000 francs for 12 and a half hours, that the celebrated E-meter costs 25,000 francs to the church, who resells it for 30,000, and that once a trial was set, they were quick to pay off those parties to civil suits who were willing to settle out of court, with the aid of money from foreign churches. How is it that men and women could have accepted emptying their savings accounts simply to study in a classroom books that they could just as easily have read at home, to could subject themselves to quack psychiatric practices, and today be very happy? Why not? It was at the very end of the session when Judge Lifshutz recalled Jean-Jacques Mazier to the stand, going over the statements of the parties to civil suits who have since been paid. Among them, a man and a woman under psychiatric treatment that the church had demanded that they abandon: the man had to be rehospitalized in an emergency, the woman had wiped out her nest egg to pay 40,000 for an E-meter. Jean-Jacques Mazier was not without a ready denial: "We don't audit people under psychiatric care. It cannot work". Never mind that these two "apostates" had fully completed a questionaire on their health on arrival, and that they, like others, had been asked to sign a release form relieving the church of all responsibility...in case of suicide. Another contradiction, on the subject of the suicide of Patrice Vic. According to Jean-Jacques Mazier, a member cannot begin the purification treatment without his wife's consent, since "It cannot begin with a lie". That did not prevent Jean-Jacques Mazier from explaining that one of the checks destined for the Dianetics center had found its way into his personal account by saying that he he had rendered services to a member who wanted to keep his new religion secret...from his wife. Movements of funds between the numerous accounts of Jean-Jacque Mazier and the church, practices close to harassment and blackmail denounced by some apostates, vitamins bought by the center "to fix" the faithful: More on the Lyon Scientology Trial Page 3 there will undoubtedly be many more questions in the days to come. Simple answers will certinly not be coming from the accused. They are all "Clear", but their understanding seems only to be among themselves.