December 4, 2003

For immediate release
Linda Simmons Hight
Media Relations Director
Phone: (323) 960-3500
Fax: (323) 960-3508
mediarelationsdir@scientology.net

The Church of Scientology won another victory on the road towards ending governmental discrimination in Germany today, when a court ruled that the Berlin Ministry of the Interior (MOI) acted illegally in including a section on Scientology in the annual report of the Office for the Protection of the Constitution (OPC). The Berlin Administrative Court issued its decision after a short trial this morning. The Court also criticized the falsity of the statements about Scientology in the OPC’s report.

The government conceded during the trial that the Church of Scientology should not have been included in the report.

The trial resulted from a March 2003 lawsuit filed by the Church of Scientology Berlin against the MOI over surveillance of Scientologists by the OPC. The lawsuit has already resulted in the MOI announcing in August that it was discontinuing the surveillance.

In a press release issued by the court, the judges stated “the inclusion of the Scientology organization’ in the OPC report 2002 was unlawful. Per valid laws only current findings about anti-constitutional activities can be included in the OPC report and those — per the statement of the State of Berlin — did not exist.”

The ruling provides fresh evidence in support of the Church’s long-standing contention that government surveillance of Scientologists is politically motivated, based on no facts, and abuses Scientologists’ rights to freedom of religion and belief.

A similar suit filed by the Church of Scientology Germany against the federal MOI is pending.

Leisa Goodman, Human Rights Director of the Church of Scientology International, said today, “The OPC had no choice but to concede. Surveillance of Scientologists in Germany has never been anything but harassment. The courts in Germany have recognised the Church as a religious community.”

In December 2001, the Court forbade the Berlin MOI from attempting to infiltrate the Church.

Scientologists have documented hundreds of human rights abuses against their members and a host of “dirty tricks” by the OPC. These include agents attempting to infiltrate churches, spreading false reports about Scientologists to their employers to get them fired, sowing dissension between church members in an effort to create turmoil within the Church, and even trying to bribe Scientologists to bear false witness against their fellow parishioners.

Recently, however, the states of Northrhine Westphalia and Hessia have quietly dropped surveillance. Schleswig-Holstein has refused to implement it.

Earlier this year, the German Federal Finance Office granted tax exemption to Church of Scientology International, the mother church of the Scientology religion.

Further information can also be obtained at www.scientology.org/humanrights.