French take Scientology to court for fraud
9/9/08
The Church of Scientology is to be tried for fraud, and seven of its members for illegally prescribing drugs, legal sources said yesterday, in the latest clash between French officials and the controversial religion. The charges stem from a case taken by a woman who said she paid the church more than €20,000 ($34,600) for lessons, books, drugs and an “electrometre,” a device which the church says can measure a person’s mental state. She allegedly made the payments after being approached in a Paris street in 1998. The case is also being taken by another plaintiff and by France’s professional pharmaceutical association.