November 21, 2003
For immediate release
Contact: Leisa Goodman
(323) 960 3500
RG forced into transparency...
The Council of State Rules in Scientology’s Favor
The 1978 law guaranteeing transparency of public service just celebrated its 25th birthday — but not until the recent Council of State ruling against an opaque RG has there been a breakthrough against the growing number of violations of private life by authorities
Since 1992, computer engineer and human rights advocate, Michel Raoust, has been attempting to apply the law of 1978 regarding computer data, files and freedoms to gain access to his personal file he knows Renseignements Généraux has been maintaining on him for decades. Until just recently, the RG had taken refuge behind the notion of “public security” to deny Raoust his rightful access.
But, after 11 years of procedure, the Council of State has changed all that and is making the RG stand in the sunlight.
On July 30, 2003, France’s high court ordered the Renseignements Généraux to communicate to Raoust, president of the French Committee of Scientologists Against Discrimination (CFSD), the contents of the RG’s file on him. [Decision available on the Internet site of Ethique et Liberté.]
The Council of State roundly rejected the RG’s false claim that it acted in the interests of public security in denying the Scientologist access to his personal file: “This only motive of a general nature, in the absence of any element in the folder allowing to estimate that the information contained in the folder of the Renseignements Généraux concerning Mr. Raoust or the Church of Scientology could not be communicated without violating public security or the security of the State, is not sufficient to justify the decision to refuse communication. Therefore, Mr Raoust is well-founded in his demand for the cancellation of the decision that refused him the communication of the data in relation to him and contained in the folders of Renseignements Généraux.”
But the Council of State was not done with the RG yet. Despite the Raoust decision, the RG continued to refuse access to their files to 24 other Scientologists, claiming it would violate “public safety.” The Scientologists persisted in their request for access to their files, and in decision of November 21, 2003, the Council of State ruled in their favor, confirming the judgment of July 30, 2003 in favor of Michel Raoust and ordering the RG to allow these 24 Scientologists to see the information on them contained in their files.
This first decision had established a new jurisprudence contributing to the transparency and a more democratic approach by the RG. Since the judgment, several members of political, philosophical or religious minorities have taken advantage of their rights based on this legal precedent.
“Like the preceding decision, this one happens after 11 years of procedures. We are very happy to have created this legal precedent for administrative transparency in France,” Mr. Raoust stated. “In many countries, Scientologists were pioneers of administrative transparency, either by getting new laws passed, or by establishing a jurisprudence reinforcing civil liberties.”
For more information on Scientology, click here.
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