Quote:The Church of Scientology was convicted of organised fraud in France today in a ground-breaking judgment which denounced the cult for swindling vulnerable members out of thousands of euros.

The church was ordered to pay fines totalling €600,000, and Alain Rosenberg, its leader in France, was fined €30,000 and given a two-year suspended sentence. Five other French scientologists were given fines of between €1,000 and €20,000.

But Paris Criminal Court stopped short of banning scientology altogether in France, on the grounds that prohibition could drive it underground where it would be difficult to control.

The ruling, likely to have repercussions for scientologists around the world, came in a case brought by Nelly Reziga and Aude-Claire Malton, former members who said they had been cheated out of €49,500 and €21,000 respectively.
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Mrs Malton, 43, for instance, said she was persuaded to spend the money on drugs, vitamins, counselling, saunas and equipment which she was told she would improve her mental and physical health. This included an electrometer to measure her mental energy.

Although scientologists have been convicted of fraud by French courts before, the church - officially considered to be a sect and not a religion in France - has never been found guilty as an institution.

''It is the first time that the way the organisation itself functions has been convicted,'' said Georges Fenech, head of the French Government Mission of Vigilance and Fight Against Sects.

In her ruling, Judge Sophie-Hélène Château said the Church of Scientology had used fallacious arguments ''of no scientific value'' to ''catch'' members.

She ordered the Celebrity Centre, the church's headquarters in France, to pay a fine of €400,000 and its bookshop to pay €200,000.

But the church, which claims 12 million members worldwide, including Tom Cruise and John Travolta, and 45,000 in France, said it would appeal.

Founded in 1952 by L Ron. Hubbard, a former science fiction writer, scientology claims that humans are immortal beings who have strayed from their true nature and who can be rehabilitated through counselling.

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