Religion and Spirituality: Opposing Views: Scientology: Legal Issues

A selection of publicly-available legal documents filed in U.S. District Court, Central District of California.

Affidavit of Hana Whitfield. The story of an ex member.

Archive of articles on law enforcement raids, arrests, court trials, indictments, and convictions of ringleaders of the Scientology crime syndicate.

Readers discuss the verdict of the Swedish High Court, which upheld a lower court's ruling that Zenon Panoussis had infringed Scientology's copyright. Includes comments from Arnie Lerma and Karin Spaink. [Slashdot]

Collection of judicial rulings, court pleadings and other legal documentation from Scientology-related litigation, 1995-March 1997.

A copy of the declaration filed by Steven Fishman in Church of Scientology International v. Fishman and Geertz. OT2 and 3 are bowdlerized to comply with Dutch law.

Colorado nonprofit group FACTNet has won a critical round in a legal fight against the Church of Scientology, raising questions about whether Scientology has a legal right to keep hundreds of documents offline and out of the public eye. [CNET News.com]

Ten years after Time magazine ran an award-winning article portraying the Church of Scientology as a "ruthless global scam," the Supreme Court refused to consider reinstating the church's libel case. [Associated Press]

Trial of a critic of Scientology on a misdemeanor charge ends in a hung jury due to worries that he was set up by the Church of Scientology. The prosecutors then dropped the charges. [St. Petersburg Times]

A judge gives the church a delay so it can fight for the privacy of a practice it compares to confession. [St. Petersburg Times]

Colleagues of State Attorney Bernie McCabe say charging the church, not the members, and deciding against a manslaughter charge walks the line between acting too harshly and too weakly. [St. Petersburg Times]

A federal court in Germany has failed to reach a verdict on the legal status of Scientology -- after years of international debate. [BBC News].

A French government committee recommends dissolving the Church of Scientology on the grounds that its activities threaten public order. [BBC News]

Marseilles court has convicted five members of the Church of Scientology of fraud for extorting large payments from vulnerable members for dubious cures. [BBC News]

A French prosecutor has asked a court in Marseille to jail a former leader of the Church of Scientology who has been accused of obtaining large sums of money by fraud from other members of the Church. [BBC News]

The trial has ended in the French city of Marseille of seven members of the Church of Scientology accused of fraud. [BBC News]

Germany and the United States are to discuss their disagreements over the Church of Scientology. [BBC News]

A federal court in Germany has failed to reach a verdict on whether or not Scientology can be considered a religion. [BBC News]

A German federal court has been hearing a case which could decide if restrictions on the Church of Scientology in Germany are legal. [BBC News]

Public prosecutor accuses the Church of Scientology with "mental manipulation." The sect is on trial for false advertising and attempted fraud. [BBC News]

The French Justice Minister says she is prepared to consider banning the Church of Scientology, considered a cult--not a religion--in France. [BBC News]

Seven members of the Church of Scientology have gone on trial in France on charges of fraud. [BBC News]

Editorial says that it is unlikely that off-duty uniformed Clearwater police officers paid by the Church of Scientology could remain objective when incidents occur between the church and protesters. [St. Petersburg Times]

Circuit court judge says that the Clearwater police "are coming very dangerously close to becoming a private security force for the Church of Scientology." Scientology spokesman paints all critics as criminals. [St. Petersburg Times]

Scientology leaders say they want peace. They say they want to stay out of court. But with both foes at home and foes abroad, that goal may be elusive. [St. Petersburg Times]