Regarding "Reassessing U.S.-German Friendship" (Special Report, Dec. 9) by John Dornberg: Mr. Dornberg writes that claims of discrimination against Scientologists in Germany are "ludicrous." As human rights counsel for the Church of Scientology of Germany, I must inform you that Mr. Dornberg's statement is flatly incorrect. I have personally documented hundreds of cases of Scientologists who have been seriously discriminated against in Germany. In some cases they have been forced to leave their country and seek asylum abroad. Scientologists in Germany ...

When the end finally came for the old Cult Awareness Network, it happened fast. Cynthia Kisser, CAN's executive director, struggled to stay calm as she sat in federal bankruptcy court in Chicago late last October waiting for the auction to begin. Kisser, who had spent the past nine years leading CAN's efforts to inform the public about dangerous cults, had hoped that she wouldn't have to pay much for her group's assets that day. Nor did she want much, she claims ...

THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE make a living designing Web sites. And for spreading ideology, creating a Web page is `easier than standing at airports ... handing out brochures.' —————————————————————– SAN FRANCISCO - Like most weird postings on the Internet, rambling statements by members of the Heaven's Gate cult about UFOs, comets and religion were largely ignored - until now. After 39 members of the cult committed suicide, Internet surfers nearly crashed servers trying to find out more information about the group whose ...

CLEARWATER — A Mexican woman has alleged that the Church of Scientology's security chief chased her and threatened to kill her for leaving the church. The case has been referred to the Pinellas-Pasco State Attorney's Office; no charge has been filed. A statement from a Scientology spokesman said the security guard has been suspended during a church investigation. The police investigation began Sept. 28 after Naxilly Sofia Perez-Morales, 22, called 911 about 7 p.m. from the Post Office on Cleveland Street. ...

They never broke into church buildings or planted electronic bugs, but for the past 13 years, undercover Clearwater police detectives have investigated the Church of Scientology. They never developed a case against the church that was prosecuted. The work ranged from gathering Scientologists' names to seeking refunds for dissatisfied parishioners. Police once stormed Scientology headquarters after hearing anonymous allegations - unfounded, it turned out - that Scientology children were being strapped to gurneys and given electric shocks. The investigation boils down ...

One of Scientology's former top spy-masters testified she'd been trained to believe criminal actions which protected the church weren't violations of Scientology's moral code. Marion Evoy, a former Canadian head of Scientology's Guardian Office, made the comment yesterday at the end of four days of testimony in the trial of the Church of Scientology of Toronto Inc. and five members on charges of criminal breach of trust. The charges arise out of a Scientology spy network that in the mid-1970s infiltrated ...

Scientologists targeted the RCMP for infiltration because their founder believed Mounties were part of a worldwide conspiracy against his church, an ex-member testified yesterday. The Toronto court heard Scientology leader L. Ron Hubbard believed the international conspiracy was run by a band of former Nazis who'd taken over Interpol — the European-based international police organization. The testimony yesterday from Marion Evoy, formerly Canada's top Scientology official, came at the opening of the fourth week of the trial of the Church of ...

A former top Scientologist testified yesterday she was put in a closet with a set of picks and told to unlock the door as part of her spy training. Marion Evoy told court she failed to get out. But the 42-year-old tutor testified to a string of successes with the Scientology spy network, which is alleged to have penetrated three police forces and three levels of government in the mid-1970s. The Church of Scientology of Toronto and five members pleaded not ...

The scope of Scientology's alleged spy network widened again yesterday with testimony the group had succeeded in planting a spy in Revenue Canada's Ottawa taxation offices. "She obtained a confidential manual," former Scientologist Diane Fairfield said of a Scientologist she had recruited to spy on Revenue Canada. No further details were elicited from Fairfield, who is testifying at the trial of the Church of Scientology and five members on charges of criminal breach of trust. The charges relate to a wide-ranging ...

A Scientology spy testified yesterday she smuggled out enough files from the OPP to make a stack about 15 feet high. The Church of Scientology of Toronto Inc. and five Scientologists face charges of criminal breach of trust in connection with a spy network that infiltrated the RCMP, Metro Police, the attorney general's department and the OPP. Kathy Smith told court that during her 2½ years as an OPP employee she smuggled out "hundreds and hundreds" of files. She was testifying ...

A former top Scientologist testified yesterday his intelligence office had copies of Ontario cabinet documents stored in a secret hideaway code-named "The Garden." Emile Gilbert, former executive director of the Church of Scientology of Toronto, told a jury yesterday "The Garden" contained 40 or 50 filing cabinets of intelligence files on Scientology's targets. "We had all kinds of files," Gilbert said, "some from Premier Bill Davis' cabinet meetings." Gilbert also said the agents had amassed so much material dealing with the ...

The jury in the Scientology trial yesterday heard the church's spy network extended far beyond the four government agencies they're charged with infiltrating. The Church of Scientology of Toronto and five Scientologists are standing trial on five counts of criminal breach of trust in connection with "agents" planted in the RCMP, the OPP, Metro Police and the Ontario attorney general's office during the mid-1970s. But yesterday, during his fifth day on the stand, a former top Scientologist admitted their "target list" ...

The jury in the Scientology trial yesterday heard evidence about that group's infamous "Fair Game Law" which authorized attacks on their enemies. Testifying for his third day, Scientology's former Deputy Guardian for Canada, Bryan Levman, said the Fair Game Law and other policies were the basis for a world-wide campaign of spying and theft. The Church of Scientology and five members are on trial for criminal breach of trust in connection with a spy network that planted agents in the RCMP, ...

Scientology engaged in worldwide break-ins and espionage because its founder believed he was the focus of a global conspiracy, court heard yesterday. At least 12 police forces and government agencies in Canada were targeted for penetration by Scientology spies in the mid-1970s, Bryan Levman, a former top Scientology official, testified. Levman, testifying under immunity, said L. Ron Hubbard, a former science fiction writer who founded the organization, believed mental health professions were behind a conspiracy to destroy Scientology in concert with ...

The former head of Scientology's Canadian intelligence network has identified one of his underlings as being responsible for "running" agents the church had planted in several police and government agencies. Bryan Levman was testifying yesterday at the criminal trial of the Church of Scientology of Toronto and five Scientologists. Levman said defendant Jacqueline Matz "ran the agents" who got jobs in the mid-1970s with the RCMP, the OPP, Metro Police and the attorney-general's office in order to pass information back to ...

The Church of Scientology of Toronto and five adherents are on trial on charges they ran a spy network that infiltrated three police forces and the attorney-general's office. A jury yesterday heard Crown attorney James Stewart outline a spy network that saw members of the church spiriting files out of police and government buildings for copying. The five counts of criminal breach of trust faced by Scientology and the five co-accused stem from activities alleged to have occured from 1974 to ...

The Church of Scientology of Toronto Inc. and five members pleaded not guilty to criminal charges of breach of trust yesterday before a panel of 200 prospective jurors. The charges, Mr. Justice James Southey explained to the panel, arise from allegations Scientologists got jobs with the RCMP, the OPP, the attorney general's office and Metro Police so they "could act as a spy or a plant." These "spies", Southey said, are alleged to have "obtained information for the church and passed ...

A Vancouver man whose testimonial is used by Narconon in its promotional material says the organization is "extremely suspect" because of its links to the Church of Scientology. "They (Narconon) are definitely a part of the Scientology operation," Tom Perry said yesterday in an interview from B.C. "I know they rehabilitated my son, I know they rehabilitated his wife, but I wouldn't trust them as far as I can throw them." Although Perry doesn't deny writing the 1987 testimontial praising Narconon, ...

The Church of Scientology has a long and undistinguished history of harassing its detractors — but that shouldn't stop the media or anyone else from speaking out against it, cult experts say. The church commonly threatens lawsuits, tries to have detractors arrested, and harasses sources and individual reporters, said Cynthia Kisser of the Cult Awareness Network in Chicago. And recent Sun stories linking the church — alleged by experts to be a dangerous, mind-control cult — to Narconon, a drug rehabilitation ...

By all appearances, Noah Lottick of Kingston, Pa., had been a normal, happy 24-year-old who was looking for his place in the world. On the day last June when his parents drove to New York City to claim his body, they were nearly catatonic with grief. The young Russian-studies scholar had jumped from a 10th-floor window of the Milford Plaza Hotel and bounced off the hood of a stretch limousine. When the police arrived, his fingers were still clutching $171 in ...

Emerging from years of internal strife and public scandal, the Scientology movement has embarked on a sweeping and sophisticated campaign to gain new influence in America. The goal is to refurbish the tarnished image of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard and elevate him to the ranks of history's great humanitarians and thinkers. By so doing, the church hopes to broaden the acceptability of Hubbard's Scientology teachings and attract millions of new members. The campaign relies on official church programs and a ...

Doris Braine says the transformation of her Patty Jo was heartbreaking. "It was," she said, "like my darling daughter had died." Before Patty Jo went to work for the Church of Scientology at the age of 20, she had been "fun and pretty and a joy to be with," recalled her 72-year-old mother. "Suddenly, she became a totally different person, shooting fire from her eyes." There were those hateful looks, and the dozens of letters that Patty Jo returned unopened. For ...