Church of Scientology News from ScientologyToday.org:

Today, the Church of Scientology has expanded to more than 8,000 churches, missions and affiliated groups in 165 nations—doubling the number in the last five years.  This year alone, the Church completed a $40 million restoration of one of its oldest landmark buildings and inaugurated five major new Church buildings in Malmo, Dallas, Nashville, Rome and Washington, DC. Current demand for L. Ron Hubbard’s books and lectures on Dianetics and Scientology has outstripped the last five decades combined, approaching 70 million distributed in the last two years.  All the while the Church’s ever growing humanitarian programs in the fields of anti-drug, human rights, morals education and disaster relief have positively impacted hundreds of millions of lives.

As the decade comes to a close, Scientologists world over are celebrating their religion’s most expansive year to date.  2009 marked the 25th Anniversary of the International Association of Scientologists, the official membership organization of Scientology. In addressing the more than 7,000 Scientologists and guests in attendance at the anniversary event on October 16th in England, Mr. David Miscavige praised members for their dedication and contribution to the tremendous accomplishments of the Church to date and expressed his optimism for the future of Scientology:

“Our battles of yesterday were to stay alive. Our battles of tomorrow are to overcome the obstacles to eternity itself. Because we have never taken our eye off the ultimate prize, we stand where we are today. Twenty-five years of magnificent accomplishment and a future more glorious than we could have ever imagined.”

The scriptures of Dianetics and Scientology are comprised of over 500,000 pages and over 3,000 recorded lectures by Founder, L. Ron Hubbard. Since July 2007, over 67 million copies of L. Ron Hubbard’s basic books and lectures on Dianetics and Scientology have been distributed.  (During the Church’s first 50 years a total of 39 million copies of L. Ron Hubbard’s works on Dianetics and Scientology were in circulation.) With all of these materials available in 15 languages, and the nine basic books now available in 50 languages, the total number of Dianetics and Scientology translations over the last decade is 10 times the previous five decades combined. In recognition of this fact, the Guinness World Records acknowledged L. Ron Hubbard as the world’s most translated author.

In-house digital publishing facilities can print over 500,000 books and 925,000 recorded lectures on CD per week

The demand for L. Ron Hubbard’s materials has grown exponentially in the last year with the numbers of new people coming into Churches and Missions to find out about Scientology growing in the same fashion. Indeed, the Scientology religion is now enjoying its greatest era of expansion in history, with public demand for L. Ron Hubbard books and lectures escalating across more than 165 countries.

To keep pace with the demand, the Church operates two state-of-the-art digital printing and CD manufacturing facilities in Los Angeles and Copenhagen.

In 2009, the Church’s publication arm, Bridge Publications, Inc. in Los Angeles, opened a 274,000-square-foot digital in-house printing and manufacturing facility, thereby increasing its publishing capacity to 500,000 books and 925,000 CDs per week, an increase of 660% over 2007.

State-of-the-art film and audio studios with the most advanced digital recording and editing equipment in the world

In June 2009 the Church celebrated the 21st Anniversary of the Maiden Voyage of the Freewinds religious retreat and annual religious convocation for advanced Scientologists. During this week-long series of events and seminars, Mr. Miscavige announced “the single most momentous advance in Dianetics technology” since the original publication of Dianetics on May 9, 1950.  The project, four years in the making and personally directed by Mr. Miscavige, resulted in 32 films totaling 4 ½ hours.  The films have been translated into 15 languages.  They put Dianetics fully into visual form, making the subject universally accessible to everyone.

June also saw the release of educational films to support Church-sponsored social betterment and humanitarian programs. The first of these was the new, full-length Truth About Drugs documentary giving addicts and at-risk youth the chance to find out from those who have lived it, exactly how addiction shatters lives. The second was The Story of Human Rights, an educational film which provides a short, concise and powerful lesson in the history and necessity of human rights and the 30 articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

October marked the completion and release of the feature-length film, The Way to Happiness. This 2-hour film presents this nonreligious common sense guide to moral living by L. Ron Hubbard.

Church-sponsored humanitarian programs touch the lives of hundreds of millions in 2009.

The Church-sponsored humanitarian programs using the latter three films reached hundreds of millions of people in 2009 and billions since their inception.

The Church-sponsored anti-drug education initiative (“Say No to Drugs, Say Yes to Life”) is the largest nongovernmental anti-drug campaign in the world and, through the airing of public service announcements, distribution of free drug education booklets and events promoting a drug-free life, it has reached over 853 million people since its inception.

The Church-sponsored human rights education program (“United for Human Rights”) is the largest in the world and based entirely on raising awareness of the 30 articles of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights.  Through the airing of public service announcements, human rights symposiums and events and distribution of human rights educational materials, the campaign has reached over 943 million people since it commenced.

The Church-sponsored morals program based on the common-sense guide to living, The Way to Happiness, has now reached nearly 800 million people through its public service announcements, educational materials and Set a Good Example contests.

The Church of Scientology’s Volunteer Ministers, over 200,000 strong, have helped over 1.4 million people in times of disaster in 2009 alone.  The motto of Scientology’s Volunteer Ministers is “Something Can Be Done About It.”

Mr. Miscavige is driving a movement now spanning the world with new Ideal Churches of Scientology.

Mr. Miscavige’s vision sets the direction for the acquisition, design and planning of new Churches-quite literally from inception to ribbon cutting.  For the past five years, the Church has dedicated itself to a program to locate, renovate and open new Scientology Churches to service its parishioners and their communities around the world. Since the launch of this program five years ago, over 70 new buildings have been acquired internationally. Real estate holdings have increased from 5.6 million square feet in 2004 to over 11 million in 2009, with over 600,000 square feet of renovations completed in just 2009.

14 March 2009: At the Church’s spiritual headquarters in Clearwater, Florida, the Fort Harrison Hotel opened in March 2009 after a $40 million renovation and restoration. The building was stripped virtually bare and rebuilt from its core, including the installation of new state-of-the-art systems. This landmark still bears its hallmark historical touches, however, including replication of the lobby’s original black wrought iron work and gold leaf moldings. The resurfacing of the entire exterior with added architectural detailing makes this religious retreat even more beautiful than at its legendary beginning in 1926, when she was known as “the Aristocrat of Southern Florida Hotels.”

4 April 2009: Three weeks after the inauguration of the new Fort Harrison, a new Church of Scientology in the Swedish seacoast city of Malmö was formally opened by Mr. Miscavige. European dignitaries and guests from 32 nations gathered to celebrate a historic day: dedication of the 72,000-square-foot landmark Church of Scientology, acquired, designed, renovated and opened in less than six months.

11 April 2009: One week later, in Dallas, Texas, a 41,000-square-foot Church opened its doors. With Mr. Miscavige officiating, the Church of Scientology Dallas was formally welcomed to the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex by City of Irving Mayor Herbert Gears.

25 April 2009: The month of April ended with the grand opening of the new 36,000 square-foot Church of Scientology and Celebrity Centre Nashville.  The opening of the new Church building in Music City USA, an historical landmark, was again led by Mr. Miscavige and joined by scores of local dignitaries, residents and visiting artists totaling over 3,000 guests.

24 October 2009:  In October, more than 6,000 people gathered in Rome’s Casalotti de Boccea district to celebrate the grand opening of the new Church of Scientology Rome. The 69,000-square-foot Church, situated on 28 acres of parkland, marks the largest expansion to date for Scientology in its 30-year history in Italy. Mr. David Miscavige welcomed parishioners to their new home. The new Church will serve parishioners of Central Italy and other regions of the Mediterranean.

31 October 2009:  One week later, the Founding Church of Scientology of Washington, DC, originally established in 1955 by Scientology Founder, L. Ron Hubbard, opened its new premises six blocks from the White House and minutes from the Capitol Mall.  Attended by nearly 3,000 Scientologists and guests, the celebration was presided over by Mr. David Miscavige. The newly acquired and fully restored 49,000-square-foot historical building now represents the largest Scientology presence in DC in Church history.  Its grand opening now brings the Church of Scientology’s presence in the nation’s capital to three very important properties:  The new Embassy Building providing all Church services for parishioners of Washington DC; the original Founding Church premises where L. Ron Hubbard personally worked, now fully restored and open to the public as a heritage property of the Church’s history; and the Church’s well-known Fraser Mansion at DuPont Circle which will now become the Church’s National Affairs Office.

The Church of Scientology looks to 2010 for further unprecedented growth, with greater expansion and success in ministering to its parishioners and their communities than ever in its history.

This year has marked the greatest expansion in Scientology’s history. The Church looks to 2010 for even greater success with scores of new Churches and Advanced Organizations on the horizon.  New Churches are scheduled to open in Pasadena, California; Inglewood, California; Las Vegas, Nevada; Seattle, Washington; Harlem, New York; Portland, Oregon; Twin Cities, Minnesota; Boston, Massachusetts; Cincinnati, Ohio; Quebec, Canada; Mexico City, Mexico; Tel Aviv, Israel; Melbourne and Sydney, Australia and Kaohsiung, Taiwan. Additionally and most significantly, the doors will open to the newly constructed 375,000-square-foot Church serving as spiritual headquarters for the religion, located in Clearwater, Florida.

Most importantly, 2010 will bring the completion of a decades-long project to restore and make available the complete library of Mr. Hubbard’s works, including hundreds of his over 3,000 recorded lectures never heard beyond his original audience.

For more information, high-resolution still photos and video footage please contact Church of Scientology International Public Relations Department.

Update of the Church of Scientology about the reach of the Church’s social programs:

• Through the anti-drug and drug abuse education programs we sponsor, every 15 seconds someone pledges to be drug free.

• Through the human rights education programs we support, every second of every day, 26 people learn about their human rights.

• And across all of our sponsored programs, every 25 seconds someone volunteers in their community.

Because our programs are non-discriminatory, 60% of those active in them are from faiths other than Scientology. Working with thousands of schools, churches, governments, businesses, law enforcement agencies and others in 150 countries, last year individuals working through Scientology sponsored programs volunteered more than 4.8 million hours to their communities — tutoring kids, rehabilitating inmates, delivering drug education lectures, promoting human rights and more.

As a result, the Church can proudly say it sponsors the single largest drug education initiative on earth, with fully developed educational materials including 16 award-winning public service announcements and an hour and half documentary educating kids about the dangers of drugs, as well as the world’s largest non-governmental residential drug rehabilitation network. We also sponsor the single most proactive human rights group on Earth which also includes freely provided educational materials with 30 public service announcements educating kids and adults alike on the subject of human rights.

These are just a few of the programs we are proud to support and make Scientology one of the most active and contributive social betterment forces on earth:

• 17,700,000 received drug education lectures;

• 3,400,000 people took a Drug Free Pledge;

• 32,000 criminals and juveniles rehabilitated, 80% have never returned to jail;

• 183,111 signatures collected in support of human rights;

• 2,750,000 reached weekly with human rights message;

• and in the last year 1.1 million tutoring hours volunteered with 36,000 students receiving one-on-one tutoring resulting in 45% academic improvements in tests.

While the above is just a sampling, all told over a half billion people have been reached by these programs.

Source: Tommy Davis, speaker of the Church of Scientology International

More news about the Church of Scientology in: Freedom Magazine

ON WEDNESDAY, October 28, a federal grand jury in Los Angeles, indicted Brian Thomas Mettenbrink, a member of the cyber group Anonymous, for his part in the January 2008 attempted destruction of Scientology websites, owned by the Church of Scientology.

Mettenbrink, 20, has been charged with the conspiracy and the “transmission of a code, information, program or command to a protected computer. ” The indictment states that he obtained a computer program from an Anonymous website and executed a “DDOS” attack from his dormitory, at the Iowa state university, against church computers in Los Angeles. A DDOS (distributed denial of service) attack occurs where a large amount of malicious Internet traffic is directed at a website or a set of websites, with the intent to overwhelm and shut down the websites.

Brain is the second member of Anonymous to face criminal charges relating to this attack. In May 2009, Dmitriy Guzner, then 18, pleaded guilty to computer hacking charges for his role in the attack on church computers. He is currently awaiting sentencing.

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2009/11/verona_man_admits_hacking_chur.html#postComment

By Nic Corbett/For The Star-Ledger

November 16, 2009, 9:00PM

In January 2008, online hackers launched a massive attack on the Church of Scientology’s websites, forcing the church to hire computer security experts to reinstate its online presence.

In the end, only one person, 19-year-old Dmitriy Guzner, of Verona, has admitted playing a role in the cyber assault. On Wednesday, three days before his 20th birthday, Guzner is expected to be sentenced by Judge Joseph A. Greenaway Jr. in federal court in Newark. Guzner, who has pleaded guilty to “unauthorized impairment of a protected computer,” faces up to 2 1/2 years in prison and nearly $119,000 in fines.

Verona teen Dmitriy Guzner caught the attention of federal authorities after a YouTube video of a protest of the Church of Scientology in New York City identified one of the participants — the individual in the center — as “Aendy, ” which is also Guzner’s online handle. Guznerhas admitted his role in an online assault of the church’s websites.

The online attack by members of a loosely formed, leaderless group called Anonymous was meant as an anti-Scientology protest. According to the Anonymous website whyweprotest.net, the group was upset by the church’s attempts to suppress a leaked promotional video featuring actor and Scientologist Tom Cruise, who made enthusiastic claims about the religion.

“I think they were relying on a very simple premise, that the number of people arrested and convicted of these kinds of attacks is very low,” said Jose Nazario, manager of security research at Arbor Networks, which helps companies keep their websites secure.

On Jan. 17, 2008, Guzner and an undisclosed number of cohorts launched a distributed denial of service attack, or DDoS for short, against the religious organization’s Web presence, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Erez Liebermann, who is handling the Guzner case.

Using a program downloaded from an Anonymous-related message board, the group sent so many hits to the Scientology websites that it overwhelmed the church’s servers, making the pages temporarily inaccessible to legitimate users.

The main website was down for about 24 hours, until the church moved its servers to an outside hosting company. The church then hired another company to divert traffic coming from the attackers. Nazario measured 488 attacks by individuals on Jan. 19, the longest of which lasted almost two hours.

The cyber vigilantes kept up the attack for at least 12 days, according to a prosecutor involved in the case.

Others made prank calls to the “mother church” in Los Angeles and sent faxes of pure black paper to use up the toner in the fax machines, said Kendrick Moxon, a lawyer for the Church of Scientology.

Anonymous members, or Anons for short, see the church, founded by science-fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard in the mid-1950s, as a dangerous cult, and they’ve banded together to expose it for what they see as fraud and other abuses, the members said in press releases they posted on the Internet.

A YouTube video by Anonymous, which surfaced shortly after the attacks, featured a robotic voice that warned the church of the group’s plan to systematically dismantle the religious organization “for the good of your followers, for the good of mankind and for our own enjoyment.” The declaration of war was followed by prank calls, juvenile stunts, death threats, vandalism of churches and organized protests across the country, Moxon said.

Dmitriy GuznerReferring to the January 2008 cyber attack, Moxon, who attended Guzner’s court hearing last month, said: “That was the first such incident. From that point on, things got out of control.”

Guzner was arrested after a YouTube video of a real-life protest that mentioned his Internet handle “Aendy” caught the attention of federal authorities. During his plea hearing in Newark in May, Guzner, a pale, slender teenager who attends Quinnipiac University in Connecticut, denied being a member of Anonymous but admitted he participated in the first day of the attacks.

Guzner’s family recently moved to Verona from Brooklyn, but on social-networking sites he said his hometown is Moscow. He has no prior criminal history, and prosecutors have not detailed Guzner’s role in the attack. Still, an examination of internet message boards and one of Guzner’s class Web projects show he’s steeped in the underground online culture of 4chan.org, from which the Anonymous movement arose.

Guzner declined to comment until after the sentencing hearing. His lawyer, Edward McQuat, also wouldn’t comment, saying he has to respect his client’s wishes.

In the wake of the cyber-attack, the church has labeled Anonymous a hate group.

“This group Anonymous, sir, they’re not nice people,” Moxon told Greenaway at a court hearing last month. “They’re haters.”

Moxon carried with him a 42-page glossy magazine about Anonymous published by an arm of the church, which describes the group’s members as “cyber bullies.”

Authorities have not disclosed much information about how they caught Guzner, other than to say they identified him after noticing the name “Aendy” was used in a YouTube video to describe one of four masked individuals plastering anti-Scientology flyers on signs outside the church’s midtown New York City offices. For that protest, or “raid,” which took place on the third day of the cyber attack in 2008, Aendy and the other three protesters wore the Guy Fawkes masks from the movie “V is for Vendetta” favored by members of Anonymous. In 1605, Fawkes conspired with others in an attempt to blow up England’s Parliament.

The FBI and the U.S. Secret Service, as part of the Electronic Crimes Task Force in Los Angeles, worked together to identify Aendy as Guzner, prosecutors said. They searched his home in Brooklyn and turned up a Guy Fawkes mask.

The church has asked the federal judge in Newark demand Guzner pay nearly $119,000 — the cost to divert the DDoS attacks and pay for protective services. But Guzner’s lawyer said just $37,500, a portion of the contract, was agreed upon in the plea deal, in which Guzner admitted to participating in the attack.

Prosecutors have recommended Guzner be sentenced to 12 months to 18 months with no chance of parole, followed by two to three years of probation.

Three weeks ago, a second man was charged in connection with the DDoS attack. A federal grand jury in Los Angeles indicted Brian Thomas Mettenbrink on charges of conspiracy and transmission of a code, information, program or command to a protected computer. The 20-year-old is accused of participating in the attack from his Iowa State University dorm room, according to the indictment.

In March 2008, before his arrest, Guzner posted on an online message board a link to a site he created for a class. Instead of using filler text for one sample page, he included a narrative that spoofs the Tom Cruise video, based on Cruise’s claim that Scientologists are the only ones who can help in a car crash.

The actor is depicted rescuing a woman from a four-car pileup on the freeway: “Stand back, emergency workers,” Cruise says in the story, which is widely copied on Anonymous websites. “Put down your jaws-of-life and crowbars. I am a Scientologist.”

Training seminars to fight hate crime

With high-ranking FBI officials reporting violent crime against churches on the rise, representatives of the Church of Scientology of Inglewood and the St. Mark United Methodist Church in South Los Angeles co-sponsored the Second Annual Hate Crimes Conference and a workshop to educate leaders of faith-based and community-based groups how to fight anti-religious hate crimes.

Held at St. Mark United Methodist Church in South LA, Hate Crime Conference speakers included human rights attorney Barry Fisher; Rev. Chip Murray, former Senior Pastor of First African Methodist Episcopal Church and now serving as professor of Christian Ethics at University of Southern California; Ms. Tereser Banks, Victorville Federal Prison Warden; Captain Bob Green, commander of LAPD 77th precinct; Mr. Shakeel Syed, head of the Islamic Shura Council of Southern California; and Bob Adams of the Church of Scientology International.

From the issues covered in the conference, community- and faith-based groups attending requested further training in programs introduced by the Church of Scientology, resulting in the follow-up workshop.

Pam Roberts, Director of Public Affairs for the Church of Scientology of Inglewood, introduced Joni Ginsberg, Executive Director of The Way to Happiness Foundation International, who conducted a workshop on the newly published educator’s guide to The Way to Happiness, a non-religious moral code based entirely on common sense.  Written by L. Ron Hubbard, the booklet fills the moral vacuum and addresses urgent issues that contribute to increasing violence in today’s society.

Ms. Ginsberg’s presentation covered the precept “Set a good example.”  Those attending will now in turn implement the program in their groups, churches and communities.  Rev. Willie Rollins of Community Missionary Baptist Church in Compton said the information covered in the Hate Crimes Conference and The Way to Happiness workshop will help “build and improve relationships that will bridge the gap between religions and races.”

This year’s Hate Crimes conference grew out of a program initiated in May 2008, held at the Church of Scientology Celebrity Centre International in Los Angeles, at which law enforcement and government officials, clergy and educators examined the growing problem of Internet hate crime and ways to improve Internet safety and security.

For more information on Scientology programs that counter violence and intolerance, visit the Scientology web site at www.scientology.org

The horizons of Scientology are filled with scores of new Churches in the making for 2009 and beyond.  Just since the launch of the Ideal Churches Program five years ago, 70 new buildings have been acquired in major population centers around the world. Church premises have increased from 5.6 million square feet in 2004 to over 11 million in 2009, with half a million square feet of renovations completed in 2009.

Church of Scientology Georgia (Rendering)

Meanwhile, another half-million square feet are under construction in Brussels, Rome, Tel Aviv, Quebec, Mexico City, Las Vegas and Washington, DC. These are the Ideal Churches of Scientology and they are designed to present the wisdom of Scientology to many millions planet wide.

NEW IDEAL CHURCH BUILDINGS

The listing below includes all new properties now in planning or construction stage to open within the next 12 months.

UNITED STATES
·    Albuquerque, New Mexico
·    Atlanta, Georgia
·    Battle Creek, Michigan
·    Boston, Massachusetts
·    Chicago, Illinois
·    Cincinnati, Ohio
·    Columbus, Ohio
·    Detroit, Michigan
·    Harlem, New York
·    Inglewood, California
·    Kansas City, Missouri
·    Las Vegas, Nevada
·    New Haven, Connecticut
·    Orange County, California
·    Pasadena, California
·    Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
·    Portland, Oregon
·    Sacramento, California
·    San Diego, California
·    San Fernando Valley, California
·    St. Louis, Missouri
·    Seattle, Washington
·    Twin Cities, Minnesota
·    Washington, DC

CANADA
·    Kitchener, Ontario
·    Montreal, Quebec
·    Quebec City, Quebec
·    Winnipeg, Manitoba

LATIN AMERICA
·    Bogota, Colombia
·    Caracas, Venezuela
·    Valencia, Venezuela
·    Las Lomas, Mexico
·    Mexico City, DF, Mexico

EUROPE
·    Brussels, Belgium
·    Budapest, Hungary
·    Copenhagen, Denmark
·    Milan, Italy
·    Padova, Italy
·    Pordenone, Italy
·    Rome, Italy
·    Tel Aviv, Israel
·    Torino, Italy
·    Verona, Italy

UNITED KINGDOM
·    Birmingham, England
·    Manchester, England
·    Sunderland, England

AFRICA
·    Cape Town, South Africa
·    Durban, South Africa
·    Port Elizabeth, South Africa
·    Pretoria, South Africa
·    Bulawayo, Zimbabwe
·    Harare, Zimbabwe

AUSTRALIA/NEW ZEALAND/ASIA
·    Auckland, New Zealand
·    Kaohsiung, Taiwan
·    Melbourne, Australia

The Drug-Free Marshals from the Church of Scientology Los Angeles pledged in hundreds of youth last Saturday to live a drug-free life in honor of the 21st celebration of Red Ribbon Week commemorating DEA (Drug Enforcement Agent) Special Agent Enrique “Kiki” Camarena.

Camarena was an 11-year DEA agent working under cover in Mexico on the way to breaking up a multi-billion-drug pipeline but in 1985 he was caught, tortured and murdered by Mexican drug traffickers. His death was an eye opener to the danger of drugs and the widespread dangers of the drug trade. In 1988, President Reagan and Mrs. Reagan along with the National Family Partnership coordinated the first National Red Ribbon Week.

The new Drug-Free Marshal’s and their parents armed themselves with The Truth About Drugs booklets, which educate by telling what harm drugs actually do. The booklets are published by The Foundation for a Drug-Free World along with 12 other booklets that inform on the most commonly used drugs, i.e. marijuana, alcohol, heroin, crystal meth, prescription drugs, inhalants and painkillers. Thousand of these were given out to youth and parents so they could learn the dangers of these drugs.

“We need to educate our children regarding drug and alcohol abuse. Drugs are a large part of our children’s lives from school, television, or movies so if we don’t tell them the truth, you can be sure that the drug-dealers are selling them their lies. By early intervention we can prevent drug abuse, which also leads to violence,” said Edie Reuveni, President of the Church of Scientology Los Angeles. “Studies show a direct link between youth involvement in drugs and gang violence. As humanitarian, L. Ron Hubbard said ‘When children become unimportant to a society, that society has forfeited its future’ so unless we educate them and take responsibility for them we all lose.”

The Drug-Free Marshal’s program, sponsored by the Church, was started in Los Angeles in 1993. Since that time more than 5 million youth worldwide have pledged to be drug-free and to help family and friends do likewise.

For more information about Drug-Free Marshals visit www.drugfreemarshals.org or call 323-953-3200.

Source

718

01.10.2009

Press release issued by the Registrar

Chamber judgment[1]
Kimlya and Others v. Russia (application nos. 76836/01 and 32782/03)

Refusal to register a religious group IN A PARTICULAR REGION
unless it had existed for 15 years

Violation of Article 9 (freedom of religion)
in the light of Article 11 (freedom of association)
of the European Convention on Human Rights

Under Article 41 (just satisfaction) of the Convention, the Court awarded Yevgeniy Kimlya and Aidar Sultanov 5,000 euros (EUR) in respect of non-pecuniary damage. (The judgment is available only in English.)

Principal facts

The three applicants are: Yevgeniy Kimlya, President of Surgut City Church of Scientology, who was born in 1977 and lives in Surgut (Russia); as well as Nizhnekamsk Church of Scientology and one of its co-founders, Aidar Sultanov, who was born in 1965 and lives in Nizhnekamsk (Russia).

Surgut Church of Scientology, initially registered as a non-governmental organisation in 1994, was later dissolved on the ground that its activities were “religious in nature”. Subsequent applications for registration as a non-religious entity were rejected in July and October 1999 for the same reason. In August 2000 in order to obtain the status of a legal entity, the Church’s founding members – including Mr Kimlya – applied to the Justice Department for registration as a local religious organisation.

Nizhnekamsk Church of Scientology, initially set up in 1998 as a religious group, had also applied for state registration as a local religious organisation in December 1999.

Following complex and lengthy proceedings, the Russian courts subsequently upheld at final instance the decisions of the registration authorities by which the two churches of Scientology were refused registration as “religious organisations” by reference to the legal requirement of the Religions Act that any new religious group had to prove that it had existed for at least 15 years in a given Russian territory or that it was affiliated with a centralised religious organisation.

A religious group, as defined in the Religions Act, has no legal personality; as such it cannot own or rent property, have a bank account, hire employees or ensure judicial protection of the community, its members and assets. Its status also rules out the opening of places of worship, the holding of religious services that are accessible to the public, acquisition and distribution of religious literature and creation of educational institutions.

Complaints, procedure and composition of the Court

The applicants complained in particular about the Russian authorities’ decisions, based on the Russian Religions Act, refusing State registration of their religious groups as legal entities. They relied on Articles 9, 10 (freedom of expression) and 11, read alone or in conjunction with Article 14 (prohibition of discrimination).

The applications were lodged with the European Court of Human Rights on 17 August 2001 and 2 October 2003, respectively. They were joined and declared partly admissible on 9 June 2005.

Judgment was given by a Chamber of seven judges, composed as follows:

Christos Rozakis (Greece), President,
Nina Vajić (Croatia),
Anatoly Kovler (Russia),
Elisabeth Steiner (Austria),
Khanlar Hajiyev (Azerbaijan),
Dean Spielmann (Luxembourg),
Sverre Erik Jebens (Norway), judges,

and also André Wampach, Deputy Section Registrar.

Decision of the Court

The Court noted that the question of whether Scientology could be described as a “religion” was a matter of controversy among the member States. In the absence of any European consensus on the religious nature of Scientology teachings, and being sensitive to the subsidiary nature of its role, the Court considered that it had to rely on the position of the domestic authorities in determining the applicability of Article 9. As the Russian authorities had been convinced of the religious nature of Surgut and Nizhnekamsk Churches of Scientology, the Court therefore decided that Article 9 was applicable in the case. Moreover, given that religious communities traditionally existed in the form of organised structures and that the complaint concerned the alleged restriction on the right to associate freely with fellow believers, Article 9 also had to be examined in the light of Article 11 which safeguarded associative life against unjustified State interference.

The Court found that the lack of legal personality and the restricted scope of rights of religious groups under the Russian Religions Act did not allow their members to effectively enjoy their right to freedom of religion and association. There had therefore been an interference with the applicants’ rights under Article 9 interpreted in the light of Article 11. That interference had been prescribed by law, namely section 9 § 1 of the Religions Act, and pursued the legitimate aim of protecting public order.

However, at no point in the proceedings had it been shown that the applicants – either as individuals or as a religious group – had engaged or intended to engage in any unlawful activities or pursued any aims other than worship, teaching, practice and observance of their beliefs. Indeed, they were denied registration as a religious organisation, not because of any shortcoming on their part or of any specific feature of their religious creed, but rather as a result of the automatic application of a legal provision, the “15-year rule” contained in section 9 § 1 of the Religions Act. The ground for refusing registration had therefore been purely formal and unconnected with their actual functioning. Furthermore, the contested provision of the Religions Act had targeted base-level religious communities that could not prove either their presence in a given Russian region or their affiliation with a centralised religious organisation. Accordingly, only those newly emerging religious groups, such as Scientology groups, that did not form part of a strictly hierarchical church structure had been affected by the “15-year rule”. The Government had not given any justification for such differential treatment.

The Court therefore concluded that the interference with the applicants’ rights to freedom of religion and association had not been “necessary in a democratic society” and held unanimously that there had been a violation of Article 9 of the Convention, interpreted in the light of Article 11. It further held unanimously that it was not necessary to examine separately the applicants’ complaints under Articles 10 and 14 finding that those complaints had been sufficiently taken into account in the above assessment.

***

This press release is a document produced by the Registry; the summary it contains does not bind the Court. The judgments are accessible on its Internet site (http://www.echr.coe.int).

Press contacts

Tracey Turner-Tretz (tel : + 33 (0)3 88 41 35 30) or
Stefano Piedimonte (tel : + 33 (0)3 90 21 42 04)
Kristina Pencheva-Malinowski (tel : + 33 (0)3 88 41 35 70)
Céline Menu-Lange (tel : + 33 (0)3 90 21 58 77)
Frédéric Dolt (tel : + 33 (0)3 90 21 53 39)

The European Court of Human Rights was set up in Strasbourg by the Council of Europe Member States in 1959 to deal with alleged violations of the 1950 European Convention on Human Rights.

The Scientology Volunteer Ministers program was launched in 1976 with the following challenge by L. Ron Hubbard: “If one does not like the crime, cruelty, injustice and violence of this society, he can do something about it. He can become a Volunteer Minister and help civilize it, bring it conscience and kindness and love and freedom from travail by instilling into it trust, decency, honesty and tolerance.”

In a third of a century since Mr. Hubbard created this program, the Scientology Volunteer Ministers have grown to an international force for help.

There has been remarkable growth of the program in the first decade of the 21st Century. Today there are 196,000 Scientology Volunteer Ministers worldwide, compared to 45,000 in 2005 and 6,000 in 2001.

Volunteer Ministers have helped over 1.4 million people in the last year, a 300 percent increase over the 2004 figure of 550,000 people. Volunteer Ministers have helped 10.8 million people since 9/11.

Over 750,000 people have visited the Volunteer Ministers Internet site in the last year alone, with thousands starting free online Volunteer Minister Courses in the last months.

18 Continental Volunteer Ministers traveling centers have toured through 116 countries covering over 300,000 miles (more than 140,000 miles within the past year).

The 135 regional Volunteer Ministers traveling centers—the signature yellow tents attached to Churches of Scientology in major cultural centers—have toured throughout their cities or towns helping hundreds of thousands yearly.

Volunteer Ministers have been involved in disaster relief efforts in 126 major disaster sites—42 locations in the last year alone.

Volunteer Ministers have trained and partnered with more than 500 different organizations and agencies including the Red Cross, FEMA, National Guard, and local police and fire departments.

More information: David Miscavige, L. Ron Hubbard, Scientology

Scientology church seeks to maximize the most important resource we have – our children.

The Church of Scientology of Tokyo participated in the “Eco Life Fair 2009″ – an annual expo produced by the Environment Ministry with the theme “earth environment.”

Scientology was among more than 50 participant organizations, which included NPOs (non-political organizations), NGOs (non-governmental organizations) and businesses, which share the ministry’s purpose to care for our natural resources and take responsibility for the future.

With the belief that our most important resources are our youth, the Church of Scientology of Tokyo manned a booth at the fair to let young people know the truth about drugs. Using a series of award-winning 30 to 60 second videos that created immediate impact on those visiting their booth, awakening them to some of the most controversial aspects of drug abuse.

One local assembly member who visited the booth told the Scientologists, “This is a great activity. I agree with what you are doing. This is needed in Japan. I hope you succeed.”

A young teacher, only recently graduated from school himself, told the volunteers, “It is really necessary to improve people’s awareness about drugs through education.” He was so impressed with the quality of the drug education materials, he left telling the Scientologists he was going to see the principal of his school to get him to adopt the campaign.

A teacher who works at a girls’ school confided to the Scientologists that drugs are in very wide use among the children at his school. He asked the volunteers to come lecture his students on the dangers of drugs.

Scientology churches around the world have been involved in drug education and prevention activities for more than two decades. The videos and drug education pamphlets they use are distributed by The Foundation for a Drug-Free World, a secular, nonprofit organization that empowers youth and adults with factual information about drugs so they can make informed decisions to be drug-free.

The Foundation was established in October 2006 to meet the growing demand for the Say No to Drugs, Say Yes to Life drug education materials, which were developed and refined through the drug prevention activities conducted by members of Scientology churches in collaboration with the interfaith community, volunteer organizations, education institutions and government agencies.