Jehovah's Witnesses in the French Courts: A Case File

Jehovah’s Witnesses

ROUEN, 20 July 2007 (AFP) - 15:45

Mrs Picard (Unadfi) convicted of defamation against the Jehovah’s Witnesses The Rouen Court of Appeal on Wednesday ordered the president of the National Union of Associations for the Defence of Families and the Individual (Unadfi), Catherine Picard, to pay 6,750 euros to the Jehovah’s Witnesses for defamation, it was learned Friday from a judicial source. The court thereby overturned a judgment of the Evreux court, which on 26 October last had acquitted Catherine Picard. The sum awarded in compensation for “moral injury” will be divided among eight associations attached to the Jehovah’s Witnesses whose headquarters are in Louviers (Eure). The Jehovah’s Witnesses had summoned Catherine Picard (who is also a PS regional councillor for Haute-Normandie) before the courts over an interview given in October 2005 to the Dépêche d’Evreux in which she accused them of “being structured in a pyramid fashion like all mafia movements”. According to the court’s ruling as cited by the Jehovah’s Witnesses, the court held that Catherine Picard had “in an outrageous manner and through a tendentious presentation cast discredit on the Jehovah’s Witnesses and (…) made excessive statements exceeding the admissible limits of free opinion and exclusive of any good faith”. The court further recalled that the Jehovah’s Witnesses enjoyed the “status of a religious association” (association cultuelle), which was known to Catherine Picard, “a person perfectly informed about the movement’s operation”.

http://filinfo.france3.fr/

03/05/2007 15:04 STRASBOURG (Council of Europe), 3 May 2007 (AFP) Jehovah’s Witnesses beaten: Georgia condemned by the ECHR Georgia was condemned Thursday in Strasbourg by the European Court of Human Rights following the complaint of around a hundred members of the Congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses who had suffered a violent attack by a group of extremist Orthodox clerics in 1999 in Tbilisi. On 17 October 1999, around a hundred Jehovah’s Witnesses, gathered in a theatre in the Gladni district, were attacked by dozens of Orthodox religious led by Vassil Mkalavichvili, known as “Father Basil”, a defrocked priest of the Orthodox Church of Georgia. The Witnesses, among whom were women and children, were beaten with sticks and iron crosses; women were dragged along the ground by their hair, then thrown down staircases or flogged with belts. One of the Witnesses had his skull shaved. Eleven people were hospitalised after the attack, which was filmed by one of the assailants and broadcast by Georgian television stations. No effective investigation was carried out afterwards, even though Father Basil boasted to the Georgian media of being behind a series of attacks against the Jehovah’s Witnesses. According to the judgment delivered Thursday, Georgia violated the articles relating to the right to freedom of religion, the prohibition of inhuman or degrading treatment, and the prohibition of discrimination. The European Court deplores the fact that the Georgian government persists in asserting that it was not possible to identify the perpetrators of the violence. Sums were awarded to certain applicants by way of just satisfaction. From October 1999 to November 2002, the Jehovah’s Witnesses were the target of 138 violent attacks, and 784 complaints were registered with the Georgian authorities, according to the European Court’s press release. None of these complaints was the subject of a “diligent and serious” investigation, the European judges find. The fundamentalist priest Basil, sentenced in June 2003 to three months in prison for destruction of property, had not appeared at his trial but was apprehended in March 2004 by the Tbilisi police. http://www.la-croix.com/afp.static/pages/070503130208.3my1nsxs.htm

The settlement of the Jehovah’s Witnesses’ tax debt should be reached amicably France could be condemned by the European Court of Human Rights In October 2004, the Court of Cassation, confirming two previous decisions, ordered the Jehovah’s Witnesses to pay a tax adjustment of more than 45 million euros on manual gifts received between 1993 and 1996. The judges held at the time that the association Les Témoins de Jéhovah, “not being recognised as a religious association (association cultuelle)”, could not claim to be exempt from the tax on gifts and bequests. The Jehovah’s Witnesses decided to bring the dispute before the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR). The sum owed by the Jehovah’s Witnesses now amounts to 54 million euros. The cult has already paid 5 million euros and the administration “has seized their property, movable and immovable, as a precautionary measure”. However, the estimated value of this property “does not even cover half of the adjustment”. Yet on 23 October last, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs wrote to the ECHR informing it that it was favourable “to the principle of an amicable settlement of this case, as well as to any offer of mediation by the Court (…) in order to encourage the search for an agreement between the parties”. Source: La Croix, 21.12.2006 (reproduced at http://www.unadfi.org/spip.php?article546)

The Jehovah’s Witnesses complain of the “excesses” of certain deputies 29 November 2006 The Jehovah’s Witnesses complained Tuesday to the Law Commission of the National Assembly of being “the obsessive target” of a parliamentary commission of inquiry into cults, which they accuse of “excesses of an iniquitous character”. The Jehovah’s Witnesses were “cited no fewer than 415 times during the public hearings” of this commission, even though they do not consider themselves concerned by its work, they write in a letter addressed to the members of the Assembly’s Law Commission.

“Respectful of the laws of the Republic, we are compelled to raise a legitimate protest and to set the record straight,” they add, ahead of the delivery, scheduled for 19 December, of the report of the commission of inquiry into the influence of cults on children, which intends to recommend regulatory and legislative measures. “Once again, we can only regret a presentation of our worship that masks reality,” the Jehovah’s Witnesses write, citing passages drawn from the commission’s public hearings; “our 250,000 faithful note with sadness these new excesses of an iniquitous character”.

At the same time, they are making public their reply to a questionnaire sent in September by the commission of inquiry, which did not call them to a hearing. They consider that they do not fall within its field of investigation and hold that their activity does not disturb public order. They point out that their children attend state schools and that they have been present in France for more than a century.

They rely on several court decisions, notably by the Conseil d’État in 2000, while the administration has recognised the religious (cultuel) character of more than 930 of its associations in 98 departments.

Moreover, they add, on 3 July 2006 the Conseil d’État confirmed the “succinct and innocuous” character of the Renseignements Généraux information that served in 1995 as the basis for the work of the first parliamentary commission on cults, which had placed the Jehovah’s Witnesses on a list of cults.

A sharp exchange had taken place in mid-October on their subject between the head of the religious affairs office at the Interior Ministry, Didier Leschi, and members of the commission of inquiry who were hearing him. Mr Leschi had recalled the case law on the religious (cultuel) character of the organisation and stressed that he was not aware of any complaints or convictions concerning it for mistreatment of children.

The commission’s president and rapporteur, Georges Fenech (UMP) and Philippe Vuilque (PS), had expressed their stupefaction, considering that one could not ignore the psychological mistreatment of the children of Jehovah’s Witnesses testified to by former members, citing also the ban on blood transfusions, door-to-door proselytising, etc. Source: La Croix

This incident, which went entirely unnoticed in the media (only Mr de Clermont mentioned it in an interview with the newspaper Le Monde), should be set alongside an arson attack that damaged a church in the suburbs of Romans-sur-Isère (Drôme) in November 2005. That had raised a wave of indignant reactions at the time, including a statement by Jacques Chirac in which he condemned that “unacceptable act” and promised to “prosecute and convict the perpetrators of this intolerable aggression”. Does this same act become acceptable once it concerns a spiritual movement labelled a “cult”? The Jehovah’s Witnesses’ hall in Villefranche destroyed The criminal lead is for the moment the favoured one after the fire that yesterday completely ravaged the Jehovah’s Witnesses’ hall in Villefranche. The 300 m² building housed a library and a conference room. The representative of the local branch will appeal to the Villefranche town hall and to the other local branches to accommodate the 200 members. Reconstruction of the building is already planned. Written on 21/10/2006 by JMM

Source: http://www.mlyon.fr/26487-la-salle-des-temoins-de-jehovah-de-villefranche-detruite.html

“Finally, a fine of 45 million euros imposed by the tax administration in respect of the taxation of manual gifts could be called into question by the European Court of Human Rights, which has asked the State to justify its decision.” - Xavier Ternisien, Le Monde, 23 July 2006

The debate over the cult character of the Jehovah’s Witnesses revived 20 July 2006 (LaCroix) With the Jehovah’s Witnesses’ summer gatherings, the debate has been revived over the accusations of dérives sectaires levelled at this organisation, after statements by Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy. The Jehovah’s Witnesses have rented the Lens stadium (Pas-de-Calais) for next weekend, arousing the anger of the anti-cult camp. The Socialist mayor, Guy Delcourt, asked Mr Sarkozy to be as firm with cults as with immigrants.

“The Jehovah’s Witnesses are a religious association (association cultuelle) expressly recognised by the Conseil d’État, and as such they enjoy freedom of assembly,” the minister retorted Tuesday on Europe 1, adding that he could have, “personally, many reservations” about the Jehovah’s Witnesses. “We need to know whether the Socialist Party defends liberties or not,” continued the UMP president, remarking ironically: “when it comes to foreigners illegally in France without papers, they call for the law not to be respected, and when it comes to religious associations recognised by the Conseil d’État, they ask me to ban the meeting!” Sarkozy “saw fit to absolve the Jehovah’s Witnesses organisation of its criminal acts,” charges the Seine-Saint-Denis deputy Jean-Pierre Brard (app. PC), stressing that the Conseil d’État had ruled only on the legal form, in a tax dispute. “Our fellow citizens expect the Interior Minister to protect their individual and collective liberties against those who violate them.”

He recalls the denunciation by the Academy of Medicine of the pressure exerted to refuse any blood transfusion, the 2004 conviction by the Court of Cassation to a 45-million-euro tax adjustment with penalties, and the twelve years’ imprisonment handed down in 2005 in the Gironde to a former member for the rape of his under-age daughter. She had finally lodged a complaint; the organisation’s Council of Elders had expelled the culprit without reporting him.

The president of the new parliamentary commission of inquiry into cults, Georges Fenech (UMP, Rhône), denounces “the dangers” of the organisation, “brought to light” during the first hearings and in judgments “in matters of divorce and child custody”.

“The public authorities must remain extremely vigilant with regard to certain practices that infringe the rights of the child defined by the New York Convention, of which France is a signatory,” Mr Fenech tells AFP.

The Jehovah’s Witnesses, who are celebrating the centenary of their establishment in France (250,000 members), had been placed in 1995 on a parliamentary list of cults. Ten years later, they obtained access to the documents used and concluded that “the Jehovah’s Witnesses should never have appeared on the list of cults”, complaining of “a long series of unjust and discriminatory treatments”.

“In France there is total freedom of religion, thought, conscience and association: in that respect the Jehovah’s Witnesses are doing nothing illegal,” Jean-Michel Roulet, president of MIVILUDES (Interministerial Mission of Vigilance and Combat against dérives sectaires), tells AFP.

“But there are a certain number of dérives sectaires in this organisation,” he adds: refusal of transfusions, financial demands, proselytising, an apocalyptic message, rejection of voting and of human justice for certain crimes, an education “that does not develop the critical mind”.

The Jehovah’s Witnesses announce they are scoring points in court The Jehovah’s Witnesses have just obtained in court access to key documents of the parliamentary report on cults published in 1996, and the annulment of a dismissal decided on religious grounds, it was learned Saturday from the association. In a ruling delivered on 1 December 2005 and forwarded to AFP by the Jehovah’s Witnesses, the Administrative Court of Appeal of Paris decided that the Interior Minister must hand over the documents emanating from the Renseignements Généraux to which the National Assembly’s parliamentary inquiry report on cults, made public on 10 January 1996, referred. According to the judgment, these documents contain “very laconic qualitative assessments of the effects of the activity” of the Jehovah’s Witnesses and information of a “succinct and innocuous character”. They do not compromise state security or public safety and must be handed over to the association. It is the first time that a movement included in the 1996 list of cults has obtained such a decision, according to concordant sources. The parliamentary commission, which had relied on the RG documents, had placed its work under the seal of secrecy. This ruling shows that “ten years after the secret work of the Gest-Guyard commission of inquiry, it turns out that the Jehovah’s Witnesses should never have appeared on the list of cults”, declared a spokesman for the National Consistory of Jehovah’s Witnesses. The classification of the Jehovah’s Witnesses among cults in that report “triggered a long series of unjust and discriminatory treatments against our Christian denomination, whose first association, legally registered in 1906, still exists”, he stressed. He cited anonymous letters, refusals to rent halls, acts of vandalism against places of worship, and losses of employment on account of belonging to the Jehovah’s Witnesses. Furthermore, on 3 November 2005 the Administrative Court of Pau annulled the dismissal by the department of the Gers of a Jehovah’s Witness childminder, Françoise Bardet, decided on account of her religious convictions. The court ordered the department to pay Mrs Bardet 26,000 euros in compensation. The Jehovah’s Witnesses, who this year celebrate their centenary in France, claim 210,000 members in metropolitan France (250,000 including the overseas departments and territories). © 2005 AFP (7-01-2006)

Ruling of the Administrative Court of Appeal of Paris of December 2005 annulling the Interior Minister’s decision to refuse to hand over the RG documents relating to the Jehovah’s Witnesses, compelling him to hand them over, and to pay 1,500 euros to the JWs for costs incurred. Administrative Court of Appeal of Paris, 5th chamber - Formation A ruling in contentious proceedings No. 02PA00039 Not published in the Recueil Lebon

Mrs Anne LECOURBE, Rapporteur Mr JARDIN, Government Commissioner

Mrs SICHLER-GHESTIN, President GARAY

Delivered on 1 December 2005

FRENCH REPUBLIC

IN THE NAME OF THE FRENCH PEOPLE

Having regard to the ruling of 16 June 2005 by which the Administrative Court of Appeal of Paris annulled the judgment of 7 December 2001 of the Administrative Court of Paris and, before ruling on the merits, ordered the production by the Minister of State, Minister of the Interior and Regional Development, to the court’s 5th chamber, of the documents concerning the association emanating from the central directorate of the Renseignements Généraux and to which the National Assembly’s parliamentary inquiry report No. 2468 on cults, made public on 10 January 1996, refers;

Having regard to the other documents in the file;

Having regard to the General Tax Code and the Book of Tax Procedures;

Having regard to the Code of Administrative Justice;

The parties having been duly notified of the day of the hearing;

Having heard, in the course of the public hearing of 17 November 2005:

• the report of Mrs Lecourbe, rapporteur,

• and the conclusions of Mr Jardin, government commissioner;

Considering that it emerges from examination of the disputed documents, which were produced by the Interior Minister in execution of the above-mentioned interlocutory ruling of 16 June 2005, that the information they contain, consisting of the address of the association and its branches, very laconic qualitative assessments of the effects of the association’s activity on individuals and society, and the number of its branches per department, cannot be regarded, given its succinct and innocuous character, as comprising elements whose disclosure would compromise state security or public safety within the meaning of Article 6 of the law of 17 July 1978; that, consequently, the minister’s decision refusing to hand over the said documents on the ground invoked disregarded the provisions of the above-mentioned law of 17 July 1978 and must be annulled;

Considering that under Article L. 911-1 of the Code of Administrative Justice: where its decision necessarily implies that a public-law person… take an implementing measure in a specific direction, the court, seised of submissions to that effect, prescribes that measure by the same decision, accompanied where appropriate by a time limit for implementation;

Considering that it follows from the foregoing that, pursuant to those provisions, the Interior Minister must be enjoined to hand over to the association LES TEMOINS DE JEHOVAH, within one month of notification of the present ruling, the documents concerning it emanating from the central directorate of the Renseignements Généraux and to which the National Assembly’s parliamentary inquiry report No. 2468 on cults, made public on 10 January 1996, refers; that, on the other hand, there is no cause, in the circumstances of the case, to grant the submissions seeking a periodic penalty;

Considering that pursuant to the provisions of Article L. 761-1 of the Code of Administrative Justice, the State must be ordered to pay the association LES TEMOINS DE JEHOVAH the sum of 1,500 euros in respect of the costs it has incurred;

D E C I D E S :

Article 1: The Interior Minister’s decision refusing to hand over to the association LES TEMOINS DE JEHOVAH the documents concerning it emanating from the central directorate of the Renseignements Généraux and to which the National Assembly’s parliamentary inquiry report No. 2468 on cults, made public on 10 January 1996, refers, is annulled.

Article 2: The Minister of State, Minister of the Interior and Regional Development, is enjoined to hand over the documents mentioned in Article 1 above within one month of notification of the present ruling.

Article 3: The State shall pay the association LES TEMOINS DE JEHOVAH the sum of 1,500 euros on the basis of the provisions of Article L. 761-1 of the Code of Administrative Justice.

Article 4: The remainder of the submissions in the application of the association LES TEMOINS DE JEHOVAH is rejected.

No. 02PA00039

Source: http://www.legifrance.gouv.fr

Not a day goes by without Jean-Pierre Brard making news… 2006 budget: the deputies call the “Jehovah’s Witnesses” to account AP | 19.10.05 | 22:40 PARIS (AP) The deputies who are members of the Finance Commission of the National Assembly adopted Wednesday evening a Communist amendment to the 2006 budget that gives the “Jehovah’s Witnesses” formal notice to settle their debts to the State. According to the amendment tabled by the Communist deputy Jean-Pierre Brard, the “Jehovah’s Witnesses” were condemned for undeclared gifts by a ruling of the Versailles Court of Appeal of 28 February 2002, confirmed by the Court of Cassation on 5 October 2004. Between the undeclared gifts and the penalties and late-payment interest, they are said to owe the State the tidy sum of 45.339 million euros. A not insignificant amount that the deputies would very much like to add to the “revenue” column of the 2006 budget. Alas, the UMP budget rapporteur, Gilles Carrez, has few illusions about the “legal effectiveness” of this parliamentary formal notice. AP http://permanent.nouvelobs.com/politique/20051019.FAP0300.html?2046

Paris, 18 October 2005 PRESS RELEASE FROM JEAN-PIERRE BRARD * 2006 Finance Bill: An amendment to make the Jehovah’s Witnesses pay their debts A year ago, on 5 October 2004, the Court of Cassation rejected the appeal brought by the Jehovah’s Witnesses organisation against a tax adjustment of nearly 23 million euros. The tax administration, using the automatic-taxation procedure, sent a notice of adjustment followed by a notice of recovery of the duties, penalties and late-payment interest owed by the Jehovah’s Witnesses organisation for undeclared gifts. The sums owed to the State, as they appear in the ruling of the Versailles Court of Appeal of 28 February 2002, confirmed by the Court of Cassation on 5 October 2004, are 22,920,382.10 euros in principal and 22,418,484.48 euros in penalties and late-payment interest. The highest court of justice having ruled, the State, at all its levels, must uphold the law. That is the law; yet to this day the Jehovah’s Witnesses still owe more than 45 million euros. The Finance Ministers, Messrs SARKOZY and BRETON, having never answered the questions of parliamentarians astonished at the non-recovery of this debt, I have decided to table an amendment to the 2006 finance bill showing this tax revenue. By this amendment I wish, on the one hand, to lead the Finance Minister to enforce a decision of the highest court and, on the other, to make heard the voice of the parliamentarians, of right and left, who have for years denounced the attitude of the Jehovah’s Witnesses organisation. Our fellow citizens know, sometimes at their own expense, that the tax services always obtain payment of a tax adjustment; how could it be otherwise with an organisation that is among the movements singled out repeatedly by the parliamentary reports on cults! The fact that this same organisation announces, this very day, the inauguration of a new 2,500-seat Kingdom Hall rings out as a real provocation, which at least shows that the Jehovah’s Witnesses have no financial problems. *Jean-Pierre BRARD - Vice-President of the study group on cults at the National Assembly, Member of the Orientation Council of the Interministerial Mission of Vigilance and Combat against dérives sectaires (MIVILUDES), Deputy for Seine-Saint-Denis (CR), Mayor of Montreuil (93)

The village of Deyvillers votes against the establishment of the Jehovah’s Witnesses Saturday 11 December 2004, 19:53 - AFP

The inhabitants of the Vosges village of Deyvillers voted massively on Saturday against a plan to build a vast Jehovah’s Witnesses building in their commune, it was learned from the Deyvillers Environmental Defence Association, which organised the consultative referendum.

96.47% of the 795 voters (out of 1,082 registered), i.e. 767 people, answered “against” to the question: “Are you for or against the establishment of a Kingdom Hall in Deyvillers?”. 16 people voted in favour of the project in this referendum, which has only advisory value.

“There is a total rejection and these results cannot be ignored,” commented Frédéric Lejeune, vice-president of the association formed on news of the filing of a building permit by the Jehovah’s Witnesses.

The Jehovah’s Witnesses want to acquire a six-hectare private plot at the entrance to the village to build there a vast hall that can hold 1,500 faithful and a 500-space car park. A building permit was filed by a civil company called “les Vergers fleuris”.

“We learned by cross-checking that it was the Jehovah’s Witnesses,” the town hall says.

The Jehovah’s Witnesses organisation confirmed in a statement to AFP that it wants to acquire a meeting hall in Deyvillers, claiming “25,000 faithful in 12 departments of the east”, including a thousand for the Vosges.

The project has provoked an outcry from part of the population of the village, renamed “Jehovah City?”, who denounce “the excessive scale of the building” and who “have questions” about the consequences of a massive arrival of Jehovah’s Witnesses members.

This is not the first time the Jehovah’s Witnesses have tried to establish an assembly hall in the Vosges. At Remomeix in 1997, the mobilisation of the inhabitants scuttled a project after several years of litigation.

http://filinfo.france3.fr/popup_afp.php?nameRegion=lca&id= %20041211185101.qo68nrre

PARIS, 7 Oct 2004 (AFP) Bercy must “demand” that the Jehovah’s Witnesses pay Parliamentarians on Thursday called on the Finance Ministry to “demand payment” by the Jehovah’s Witnesses of the 44 million euros they were ordered to pay the State after a tax adjustment. “Justice has ruled: the Jehovah’s Witnesses cannot claim the status of a religion,” according to a statement by the seven parliamentarians who are members of the Orientation Council of the Interministerial Mission of Vigilance and Combat against dérives sectaires (Miviludes).

“The State, at all its levels, must uphold the law, and the services of the Finance Minister must demand payment of the 44 million euros that the Jehovah’s Witnesses have been ordered to pay the State,” the text continues.

“The Court of Cassation has just ruled against the Jehovah’s Witnesses association, contradicting all those who seek to legitimise the religious (cultuel) status of this association in order to allow it to obtain from the courts the religious recognition that its practices do not allow it to obtain,” according to the text.

“This condemnation confirms and legitimises the action carried out by parliamentarians, of right and left alike, against movements whose practices are contrary to the laws of the Republic,” the parliamentarians assert.

The signatory deputies are Jean-Pierre Brard (Seine-Saint-Denis, affiliated PCF), also vice-president of the study group on cults at the National Assembly, Martine David (Rhône, PS), Georges Fenech (Rhône, UMP), Alain Gest (Somme, UMP). For the senators, they are Eric Doligé (Loiret, , Jean-Jacques Hyest (Seine-et-Marne, UMP) and Serge Lagauche (Val-de-Marne, PS).

On la-croix.com and at http://pages.globetrotter.net/mleblank/wt/nwt-07-10-2004-1.htmll

Defamation proceedings initiated by the Jehovah’s Witnesses 30 September 2003 The Court of Cassation upheld the ruling of the Versailles Court of Appeal, which convicted the deputy [Jean-Pierre Brard] of public defamation, refusing him the benefit of parliamentary immunity and that of good faith:

“Whereas, in order to set aside the defence pleas of the respondents, who invoked the immunity provided for by Article 41, paragraph 2, of the law of 29 July 1881 and the benefit of good faith, to overturn the judgment under appeal and to declare the offence established, the Court of Appeal holds that the disputed remarks, which insinuate that the Jehovah’s Witnesses engage in mafia-type activities in connection with serious organised crime, do not constitute a faithful account of the report of the aforementioned commission of inquiry, which made no mention of “precise and significant implications” of the Jehovah’s Witnesses before the criminal courts; that the judges add that, while it was legitimate to seek to inform young readers about the various aspects of the fight against cults, it was nevertheless incumbent on Jean-Pierre X…, a reputed expert in the matter, to take care, in a “meticulously prepared” interview, not to use approximate terms and not to make hasty amalgams; that the judges conclude that the person concerned, who did not rely on serious elements of assessment, lacked moderation in the expression of his thought; that they specify that, in his capacity as publication director, Hakim Y… should have made apparent the polemical character of the disputed remarks, presented as objective, and allowed the association violently implicated to present its arguments; Whereas, in so ruling, on grounds free of inadequacy or contradiction and answering the peremptory heads of the submissions before it, which cited no passage of the commission of inquiry’s report capable of corroborating the criticised remarks, the Court of Appeal justified its decision.*”

Court of Cassation, Criminal Chamber, public hearing of 30 September 2003, partial cassation without remand, appeal No. 03-80039, at: http://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/WAspad/UnDocument?base=CASS&nod=CXRXAX2003X09X06X00173X000

Source: http://fr.wikipedia.org/

Mr Brard convicted on appeal of having defamed the Jehovah’s Witnesses

(AFP, 20.12.2002) VERSAILLES - The Versailles Court of Appeal on Wednesday (18/12/2002) convicted Jean-Pierre Brard, deputy (PCF) for Seine-Saint-Denis, of defamation, ordering him to pay one euro in damages to the Christian Federation of Jehovah’s Witnesses of France, it was learned Friday from a judicial source. In its ruling, the court holds that “the benefit of good faith cannot validly be granted to Jean-Pierre Brard who, besides the lack of moderation in expression, at no point sought to keep close to the conclusions of the inquiry reports, contenting himself with approximations, all the more reprehensible in that they came from a reputed expert in the matter”. Jean-Pierre Brard was vice-president of a parliamentary commission of inquiry into cults which published a report in January 1996. At first instance, in March, the criminal court of Nanterre (Hauts-de-Seine) had dismissed the Jehovah’s Witnesses’ claim. The court had held that Mr Brard was in “good faith” when he asserted, in the September 2001 issue of the magazine 15-25ans.com, that cults “like the Jehovah’s Witnesses or Scientology” operate “in the mode of international crime, with unsuspected ramifications and immense power, including lobbying power”. Mr Hakim Benhalima, the publication director of the monthly 15-25ans.com which had published these statements, also targeted by the complaint, was ordered, like Mr Brard, convicted of defamation, to pay one euro in damages. The defendants must in addition pay the Jehovah’s Witnesses 4,000 euros in legal costs. “This decision will give satisfaction to all the faithful,” said Jean-Marie Bockaert, president of the Consistory of Jehovah’s Witnesses, in a statement sent to AFP, adding “we were compelled to resort to the courts because of the repeated and unfounded accusations of which we have been the object on the part of Mr Jean-Pierre Brard for years”..

Source: http://www.cesnur.org/2002/tdg_09.htm

PLANNING LAW AND “NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS”: THE CASE OF THE JEHOVAH’S WITNESSES FACULTY OF LAW, ECONOMICS AND MANAGEMENT University of Nice - Sophia Antipolis

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Dissertation for the D.E.A. in Private and Public Real-Estate Law - Year 1997-1998 Miss Virginie GABRIELLI, under the supervision of Professor Hubert CHARLES

The author of this dissertation wishes to thank, for their invaluable assistance, Professor H. CHARLES, Professor C. VALLAR, Maître A. GARAY, member of the Paris Bar, and Maître P. BESNARD-VO-VAN, member of the Paris Bar.

SUMMARY The appearance of new religious movements arouses among uninformed populations a feeling of fear that is often unjustified. Certain local authorities multiply discriminatory practices contrary to the principles of planning law.

In so doing, they violate the freedom of conscience and religion guaranteed by the most fundamental texts of the Republic.

The Jehovah’s Witnesses, the main object of our study, are victims of this discrimination, particularly when it comes to erecting places of worship.

Fortunately, the courts have the legal means necessary to restore legality. In this way they help to ensure respect for the neutrality of planning law.

INTRODUCTION Such a subject may seem unusual at first sight. Why treat planning law in relation to “minority religious movements”, also called “new religious movements” or “cults”?

The question nonetheless deserves very particular attention. It lies at the crossroads of various legal disciplines such as the law of associations, tax law, European law and public liberties. This last field is moreover of great importance when speaking of “cults”, and it underlies the whole study.

It is easy to draw up a balance sheet of recent years and to note a general awareness of the existence and scale of these “minority religious movements”. National and international news regularly deluges us with striking and shocking facts linked to the growth of the cult phenomenon.

These events have raised many questions among the public authorities and dismayed populations as to the means to be deployed to curb such acts.

Read the rest of the dissertation (83 pages) at: http://www.palain.org/download/gabrielli.pdf