MIVILUDES and Jehovah’s Witnesses
MIVILUDES issued a press release which said: “The Inter-ministerial Mission for Monitoring and Combating Cultic Deviances takes note of the court decision taken by the European Court of Human Rights on 5 July 2012 but makes clear it was a decision about a purely fiscal dispute. It will go on exercising vigilance regarding the Jehovah’s Witnesses because of denouncements of “sectarian deviations” that it regularly receives from former members or from relatives of members of this religious community.”
France must reimburse 4.6 million Euros to the Jehovah’s Witnesses
On Thursday, the European Court of Human Rights (CEDH) decided that France must reimburse the French branch of the Jehovah Witnesses nearly 4.6 million Euros. This amount had been seized at the end of a reassessment of taxes owed on gifts made by faithful members of the Jehovah’s Witnesses.
Libel and lies in MIVILUDES’ reports denounced
The Russian media dealing with religious issues have widely echoed the 1 June 2012 decision of the Paris Criminal Court convicting Georges Fenech, the president of MIVILUDES (Interministerial Mission for Monitoring and Combatting Cultic Deviances), for public defamation, as it can be seen hereafter.
Falun Gong Members Claim Chinatown Assaults
Falun Gong, a quasi-religious sect which is persecuted in China, claim they were assaulted at least eight times in recent months by people in Chinatown, according to the San Francisco Examiner.
University course about “sectarian grip”, a good business
The “Université Paris Descartes” proposes a new unique course about “sectarian processes “. This course is for professionals who may be in contact with victims of “sects”: gendarmes, medical doctors, psychologists, association leaders. Rate for the course is between 1000 EUR and 1550 EUR. Unsurprisingly, there were only 7 candidates for the first intake.
The President of MIVILUDES, Georges Fenech, convicted
Georges Fenech is the president of an interministerial mission established by the Prime Minister, MIVILUDES, an acronym for Mission interministérielle de vigilance et de lutte contre les dérives sectaires (Interministerial Mission for Monitoring and Combatting Cultic Deviances). He was appointed to this position by François Fillon in 2008. His appointment was renewed in 2011.
MIVILUDES’ raids in Catholic communities
Since the presidency of MIVILUDES (Interministerial Mission of Vigilance and Fight against Sectarian Drifts) by Georges Fenech, several small Catholic communities have increasingly been targeted, the last one being “Amour and Miséricorde” (Love and Mercy). On 11 April 2012, investigators of the research section of the gendarmerie in Dijon have stopped several members of that group. One of them was put under examination.
