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The French parliament yesterday adopted Europe's toughest anti-sect legislation yet, creating a controversial new crime of "mental manipulation" punishable by a maximum fine of £50,000 and five years imprisonment.

The move was applauded by Alain Vivien, head of a government committee that has identified 173 dangerous quasi-religious groups in France, but was denounced by both the Church of Scientology and the Unification Church as fascist, anti-democratic and in breach of basic human rights laws.

Current French law, described as "inadequate to deal with increasingly sophisticated and manipulative groups" by Catherine Picard, one of the MPs who proposed the bill, allows sect activities to be caught by prosecutions for traditional crimes such as incitement to murder, sexual assault, fraud and the abuse of a vulnerable individuals.

The new law allows judges to order the dissolution of any sect whose members are convicted of a criminal offence. It also bans sects from advertising, and prohibits them from opening missions or touting for new members near schools, hospitals or retirement homes.

But the law's key weapon is the new crime of mental manipulation, defined as "exercising, within a group whose activities are aimed at creating or exploiting psychological dependence, heavy and repeated pressure on a person, or using techniques likely to alter his judgment, so as to induce him to behave in a way prejudicial to his interests".


Comment: That sounds to us like the media and education system in every Western country.


A justice ministry spokeswoman said the legal definition had been prepared carefully to ensure that it could not be applied to legitimate churches. But some Catholic leaders have expressed reservations about the law, saying that may lead to "over-zealousness and judicial excess", as well as discrimination against genuine religions.

"This is a steep and slippery slope for democracy," said Danièle Gounord, a spokeswoman for the Scientologists, which is not recognised as a religion in France. "In western Europe, the only regime so far to pass a law on mental manipulation was the fascist government of Mussolini, in an attempt to get rid of the communists."