FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

	Contact: Leisa Goodman
	Human Rights Director,
	Church of Scientology International
	(323) 960-3500

August 25, 1999

Italian Olympic runners joined the European Marathon for Human Rights team this week as it reached Turin, Italy, and was welcomed by mayors, police officials and Catholic leaders. Guided by a police escort, top marathon champions Walter Durbano and Maria Viceconte ran with the team to the city center where an event was held to celebrate the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

The runners, concerned at growing intolerance and persecution in Europe, are campaigning for human rights by running 4,500 kilometers from Greece to Germany. They have now passed the 1,500 kilometer mark. After leaving Italy, they will cross Switzerland, France, Belgium, and the Netherlands. The Marathon ends with a multi-faith festival for human rights in Hamburg, Germany, on October 25.

Five hundred people assembled in the city square in Turin to join the Marathon in a human rights celebration. Led by the Olympic pair bearing the “Torch of Freedom” lit at Athens when the run started July 22, the marathoners were welcomed by a representative of the Piedmonte region, the mayor of Vidracco, a representative of the mayor of Turin, the parson of the Church Saint Peter Paul and Turin’s inspector of police.

Eight thousand watched the runners take part in the Athens torch lighting ceremony and send-off at the Acropolis four weeks ago. Since then, they have met with Mayors, councillors, police officials, human rights and religious leaders and members of the public in Corfu, Brindisi, Barletta, Avellino, Naples, Rome and Florence.

The Marathon, coordinated by the Church of Scientology’s Human Rights Office with the support of many religious denominations, is accompanied by Irving Sarnoff, founder and a director of Friends of the United Nations. Friends of the UN is a non-governmental organization which mobilises support for the United Nations and its programs.

The running team consists of 10 people, including runners from Europe, the United States, Canada, South Africa and Japan.

American ultra-marathon runner John Radich, whose family comes from Yugoslavia, began to run competitively while stationed in the U.S. Army in Wurzburg, Germany. He has since logged almost 100,000 miles of running. He has participated in more than 125 runs of 50 kilometers and over 75 marathons, including a 1,000 mile run in Australia and a 157 mile event in Death Valley, California, enduring temperatures of 135 degrees fahrenheit. John also took part in the first marathon last summer, which was also organized by the Church of Scientology. It was a six-week, 3225 kilometer run through eight countries.

Said John, “Running through eight countries in Europe for human rights last summer was my biggest thrill. It changed my life forever. Helping to free Europe from violations of human rights and religious freedom is the biggest honor and purpose a runner can have.”

Runner Mike Loumeau is a writer and private consultant to the entertainment industry. Like John, he is a member of the Church of Scientology and credits the religion with enabling him to pursue his dreams. “I really enjoy helping others and as a Scientologist I wanted to give something back. After the ‘ethnic cleansing’ in Kosovo, Bosnia and other countries, I felt it was my responsibilty to do something about it. This run through Europe gives me a chance to touch people’s lives and spread the message that human rights is of paramount importance. People have the right to practice their chosen religion, whatever it may be.”

Rev. Heber C. Jentzsch, President of the Church of Scientology International, says that the importance of human rights cannot be overstated in a world in which different and diversified communities and belief-systems are increasingly thrown together.

Said Rev. Jentzsch, “This Marathon is a wake up call to Europe. Human rights organizations have warned that the barbarities in Kosovo were preceded by restrictions on freedom of speech and religion. Yet some government officials in democratic countries like Germany and France are inflaming hatreds against those who believe or worship differently. Only by recognizing the rights of belief and practice for all minorities, will Germany earn the right to lead Europe into the 21st century.”