Background courtesy
Windy's Web Design

OUTCRY INVESTIGATION

Charges against The Church of Scientology

[La Nuova Sardegna 26 March 1999]


From: martini@xenu.com-it.net (Martini)
Newsgroups: alt.religion.scientology
Subject: ITALY: Scientology raided in Sardinia
Date: Fri, 26 Mar 1999 18:25:54 GMT
Message-ID: <36fbcf49.56791@nntp.lightlink.com>
More troubles for Scn in Italy. The police are investigating a suicide
case committed by a 20 yrs old boy.
Article published by "La Nuova Sardegna", Friday March 26th, 1999

Sorry for the quick and literal translation  :(

Martini
Allarme Scientology
http://xenu.com-it.net

For those not so good in geography: Sardinia is the big island between
Italy and Spain

=========



OUTCRY INVESTIGATION
Charges against The Church of Scientology
Digos [a special branch of the Italian police] are investigating
after the complaint of the relatives of a 20 yrs old boy who committed
suicide.

CAGLIARI. Being 'clear', clean. Being able to control emotions,
getting free from the mental trash resulting by the daily life.
The goal is easy  for the secular priests of the church of
Scientology: you just need to read the books of 'Dianetics' founder,
Ron Hubbard. Then you have to proceed to a purification path carefully
designed. There are millions of young and not so young people,
worldwide, who joined the church and are happy with what they got.
Despite its success, however, Scientology is leaving behind a trail of
crime and civil cases , polemics and a number of suicides. The latest
one concerns a Cagliari 20 years old boy, Roberto D., who put an end
to his existance jumping from the 8th floor.
He got in touch with Scientology hoping that the Hubbard's church
could help him with his problems.
It was March 1997. Now a police investigation started again on what
seemed to be a silent tragedy bounded to be placed on files: Digos are
investigating and raided the organization city offices  - located in
Sonnino rd. - and private apartments.
Mario Canessa, attorney, delivered to the public prosecutor Guido Pani
documents and important testimonies on behalf the boy's family. There
are some hypothesis of crime, as well, on which the detectives are
working: circumvention of an incapable and extortion. They are heavy
charges that would put the activities of Hubbard's followers under a
completely different light. But no more is known by now, and attorney
Canessa is very surprise for the spreading of the news, this morning.
Public Attorney offices all over Italy have been opening and closing
files on Scientology for years, and for years there have been
complaints about the psychological subjection to which young people
are forced to finance the church of 'Dianetics' with every means,
ruining their own lives. Detractors claim that Scientology built up an
enormous worldwide empire exploiting the weakeness of its
interlocutors. Men and women looking for steady points, ready to do
everything just to win the barrier of their own fears. 
Up to now, however,  no courts have been able to prove the existence
of a link between the proselitizing activities of Scientology and the
charges about the consequences of those activities. And it was
impossible to prove the links with the suicides that are committed all
over the world on an almost regular basis. In Sardinia we can remember
the case of a girl of Nuoro who killed herself at the end of  the 80s.
Adherents of Scientology (that is defined as "an association to
preach, practice and spread the religion based on the books of
Dianetics written by Ron Hubbard")  have to pay to attend courses and
join the church. According to Ansa [news agency] the starting donation
is 90.000 liras [47 euros], plus the "adviced" purchase of 3 books.
Increasing requests for money would follow.

                               



Sardinia (Italy): extortion and suicide

update

L'Unione Sarda - 13 February 2003


From: Martini <martini@xenu.com-it.net>
Newsgroups: alt.religion.scientology
Subject: Sardinia (Italy): extortion and suicide
Message-ID: <5k0p4vkudheogoakbbr10bmgs4jnc2g8ta@4ax.com>
Date: Fri, 14 Feb 2003 05:59:29 GMT


L'Unione Sarda, Feb. 13 2003

http://www.unionesarda.it/unione/2003/13-02-03/CAGLIARI/CAG03/A03.html

The case of 1997
According to the prosecutor, the suspect asked the boy 100 milions
(51,650.00 euros)

A seemingly unexplicable suicide: when Roberto jumped out of his
bedroom window, at the 5th floor of via Castiglione, he wasn't 20 yet.
It was Feb. 18th, 1997. Four months later his parents filed a
complaint: their son committed suicide - they claim - because he was
exasperated by the continuous requests of money of his cousin, with
whom Roberto shared the passion for Scientology.

Yesterday morning, Gup (preliminary hearing judge) Giovanni Lavena
indicted Giorgio Carta, 30 from Cagliari, with the charge of
extortion. According to the deputy prosecutor Guido Pani, the
defendant (represented by lawyers Luigi Concas and Guido Manca Bitti) 
demanded [Roberto] almost 100 millions, threatening [him] to  reveal
the confidences Roberto made during the meetings with Scientology
members. As for the other two indicted, Annamaria Cogoni, 44 from
Selargius and Massimiliano Longu, 30 from Cagliari (represented by
lawyer Pasquale Ramazzotti), the judge ordered the files to be
transferred to the prosecutor in order to have the charges specified.
Cogoni and Longu (both members of Scientology) are charged with
abetting: they'd helped Carta to evade the investigation, making
disappear Roberto's 8 "uditing", i.e. the Scientology files of the
young boy who committed suicide.

This last circumstance surfaced in a second time, from there the need
to reformulate the charges. Now the trial splits into two stumps:
infact Carta will be tried May 2nd next by the judges of the Court
first section, while the other two, if indicted, will be tried by the
monocratic court and the two proceedings could not be joined again.

According to Roberto's parents (who sued for damages in the criminal
prosecution, with lawyers Mario Canessa and Mariano Delogu) everything
started with the boy's Scientology enrolling, of which he was happy at
first. Then something happened. Roberto confided his father and mother
to be pressed by his cousin Giorgio Carta (he too a follower of the
"Mission of the Church of Scientology") with demands of money. By the
way: two days ago a magazine related to Scientology and speaking of
this investigation in a cryptic way was handed out for free in front
of the Palace of Justice. After Roberto's death, some of his friends
confirmed that the boy had been threatened: for any reason he had not
to talk of the money handed to his cousin.

After gathering a sheer dossier, Roberto's family asked the power of
attorney to reopen the investigation about their son's death. The
charge of suicide instigation dropped, while remains the one for
extortion.

==================
Note:
Following the previous media reports of Roberto's story
(http://xenu.com-it.net/txt/cagliari2.htm ), the local CoS
representative wrote "L'Unione Sarda" and "La Nuova Sardegna" two long
letters (http://xenu.com-it.net/txt/cagliari2.htm#p3 and
http://xenu.com-it.net/txt/cagliari2.htm#p5) claiming that Scn in a
religion and not speculators, that the local org is unrelated to the
proceedings and connecting the two means religious intolerance and
discrimination.

Moreover, in late 2002 a web site containing "disturbing news" about
Roberto's family, their lawyers, judge and prosecutor appeared on the
web http://web.tiscali.it/esti_ora/index.html . As you can imagine,
the proceedings are the usual conspiracy against the poor "cult" of
Scientology and of course, Martini (the undersigned) and "Allarme
Scientology" (my web site http://xenu.com-it.net) are part of the
conspiracy, as already stated by the reliable source "Tell it All Org"
(http://www.tellitall.org/Leprove/scenes.html ).

Martini



          

The case of the boy who committed suicide:
a former Scientology executive sentenced to 4 ½ years

update

L'Unione Sarda - 9 November 2004


From: martini@xenu.com-it.net (Martini)
Newsgroups: alt.religion.scientology
Subject: [Italy] Ex Scientology executive sentenced for extortion in a suicide case
Date: 9 Nov 2004 08:22:04 -0800
Message-ID: <6cf285ee.0411090822.4ecf32d5@posting.google.com>

Translated and posted by: Martini, 
"Allarme Scientology", 
Italy
http://xenu.com-it.net
http://xenu.freewinds.cx

========

From: L'Unione Sarda, Nov. 9th 2004
http://www.unionesarda.it/US_LAY_giornaleonline_06_NOTIZIA.asp?IDCategoria=23& IDCatGOL=390&IDNotizia=61546&Edizione=1&Pagina=18&DataPubb=20041109&Versione=Testuale
Cagliari (Sardinia), Italy, nov. 9th, 2004
The case of the boy who committed suicide:
a former Scientology executive sentenced to 4 ½ years

He wasn't 20 yet but he's been living a nightmare for months: debts,
forced to pay tens of millions [of old lira] to an executive of the
Mission of Scientology. Desperate, he jumped from the window. Suicide.
This was how this tragedy was filed at first. But then the case was
reopened, ending in a new investigation and in the trial against an
affiliate and now ex executive of Scientology: yesterday Giorgio
Carta, 41, was found guilty of extortion against his cousin Roberto
Deplano, the boy who committed suicide on Feb. 18th, 1997. He will
serve a 4½ term.

This was the decision the Court chaired by Mr. Judge Sette took
yesterday, ending a vicissitude started 7 years ago. A case that
caused a stir. Judges decided for a punishment havier than the one
suggested by the prosecutor, who asked for a 4 yrs term.

The story dates back to 1997. On Feb. 18th Roberto Deplano, a 19 years
old student, jumped from his bedroom window at the six floor of a
building located in via Castiglione. A 20 meters flight ended in
tragedy. Investigators closed the case as a simple suicide, and the
investigation was filed. But his parents knew there was something
more. Something that lately had darkened and worried their son.

Antonino, his father, went to Mario Canessa, a lawyer, and told him
that Roberto had joined Scientology (a religious movement founded in
USA in 1954, that was spreading in town). He was happy at first, his
father said, but then Roberto began to darken and revealed to be
pressed with constant requests of money by Giorgio Carta, owner of a
bar in Piazza Giovanni XXIII and by then one of the executives of the
office of Scientology in Cagliari. [Mr. Deplano] talked of tens of
millions already paid. But it seemed that his son's generosity was
never enough. This account was confirmed also by the boy's friends and
by his mother: "Roberto was tired - she said - he wanted to leave that
cult but was unable to do so. He was changed, he stopped his studies,
he didn't play his music any longer. He told me that they brainwashed
him, that they wanted more and more money. That they threatened him to
disclose the intimate things he had revealed during the meetings of
the group. He was terrified, he even locked me inside because he
feared they would kill me. My husband and I even decided to leave
Cagliari: the nex day Roberto committed suicide, he wanted to save
us".

On September 1998, as a result of a charge filed by the lawyer,
prosecutor Guido Pani reopened the investigation: phone tappings,
searches, documents seized. Giorgio Carta was finally indicted with
che charge of extortion with the aid of unknown people, "because with
threats he repeatedly forced Roberto Deplano to give him a number of
sums in cash for a total of about 100 millions lira [about 51.000
euros]".

Carta has always rejected all the charges. His lawyers Guido Manca
Bitti and Luigi Concas said they were "surprised by the decision. We
are convinced of the innocence of Giorgio Carta. The investigation was
lacking and those lackings could have changed the tune". Later on the
defendant reaffirmed his innocence: "Obviously I'll appeal and this
decision sounds incredible. I'm waiting to read its motivation to
understand how the judges could have come to such unfair conclusions".

By Andrea Manunza,
L'Unione Sarda, Nov. 9th 2004


Other Scientology related deaths