Scientology raided in Paris

Paris, France
June 2, 2000
Saarbrücker Zeitung

Paris (afp). Investigators of the French fraud division have searched the headquarters of the Scientology organization in Paris and confiscated numerous documents. The police secured folders on adherents and opponents of the organization, as well as two computers with extensive data.

Scientology headquarters in Paris raided

Paris, June 1 (AFP) - Investigators from the French fraud bureau searched the Scientology organization's headquarters in Paris and confiscated numerous documents. The police took folders on adherents and opponents of the organization into custody, along with two computers with comprehensive files, as reported by the Paris newspaper "Libération" on Thursday. According to the paper, the raids were a result of a complaint by a former Scientology member who felt that he was being harassed by the organization. In response, a spokesman of the Scientology Organization described the officers' procedure as "official harassment."

Similarly to Germany, where the Scientologists are under surveillance by Constitutional Security, their actions are also being scrutinized in France because of concerns that key political and commercial positions are being infiltrated and a totalitarian corporate structure which is strictly built for profit is being set up. Because of this, both countries have been regularly strongly criticized by the USA, where Scientology is recognized as a church. The organization, with its headquarters in Los Angeles, was founded in 1954 and says it has eight million members. Its number in France is estimated at 30,000, in Germany, according to findings of Nordrhein-Westphalian Constitutional Security, at about 5,000.