Pessano (Milano), 1995; E. POZZI, Il carisma malato. Il People’s Temple e il suicidio collettivo di
Jonestown, Liguori, Napoli, 1992.
164 Cf. G. CAROBENE, Libertà individuale ed appartenenza comunitaria. Rilievi penalistici del brainwashing, on Comunità e Soggettività, M. Tedeschi (ed.), Rubbettino editore, Soveria
Mannelli (CZ), 2006, pp. 527-538.
165 Between 1991 and 2005, 179 dossiers were labeled under the term 'sect' and not on the basis of criminal offenses committed. Of these, 93% were suf- fied either for lack of offense or for lack of offense: cfr. B. MINE, L'emergence d'un problème: l'objet politique “secte”
en Belgique, on Criminologie, 41, 2, 200, pp. 157-183, and ID., La notion de “dérive sectaire”: quelle(s) implication(s) pour la régolation du “phénomène sectaire”, on Varia, 6, 2009, pp. 1-19
(and https://champpenal.revues.org/7535).
166 Cf. http://www.derives-sectes.gouv.fr. There is a definition of sectarian drift on the same site: “Il s'agit d'un dévoiement de la liberté de pensée, d’opinion ou de religion qui porte atteinte à l'ordre public, aux lois ou aux règlements, aux droits fondamentaux, à la sécurité ou à l’intégrité des personnes. Elle se caractérise par la mise en œuvre, par un groupe organisé ou par un individu isolé, quelle que soit sa nature ou son activité, de pressions ou de techniques ayant pour but de créer, de maintenir ou d’exploiter chez une personne un état de sujétion psychologique ou physique, la privant d’une partie de son libre arbitre, avec des conséquences dommageables pour cette personne, son entourage ou pour la société”. Cf. S.J. PALMER, The New Heretics of France: Minority Religions, la République, and the Government-Sponsored “War on Sects”, Oxford University Press, Oxford/New York,
2011; about France cf. also D. HERVIEU-LEGER, La Religion en miettes ou la question des
sectes, Calmann-Lévy, Paris, 2001 (first capitol). L.L. CHRISTIANS, Public Policies and Cults in European Case Law: Between Security, Non-discrimination and Public Information, on State Responses to Minority Religions, D.M. KIRKHAM (dir.), Ashgate, Farnham/Burlingon,
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reports which led to the adoption of the 2001 law concerning criminal repression of the new offence of "abuse of ignorance and weakness"167.
The articulation of the sectarian struggle in Belgium has emerged in various phases, starting in the nineties, following the guidelines of the French political and legislative systems. In 1993, State Security was commissioned to undertake a study on the sectarian phenomenon in the country168, but it was only five years later that this task was legally
RICHARDSON, F. BELLANGER (dir.), Ashgate, Farnham/Burlingon, 2014; Droit des Religions, F. MESSNER (dir.), CNRS Éditions, Paris, 2010.
167 Law 2001-504, June 12th 2001 (http://www.unadfi.org/action_etat/textes_pouvoirs), Loi tendant à renforcer la prévention et la répression des mouvements sectaires portant atteinte aux droits de l’homme et aux libertés fondamentales. Such laws were subsequently adopted in 2011
in Belgium and in 2013 in Luxembourg. Other governments have tackled the issue of "sectarian" groups in different ways: no official reaction, as in the case of the United Kingdom and Denmark; in some cases limited government response, as in Austria (publication of a brochure by the Ministry of Education). There have been governmental responses through parliamentary committees, reports and studies in many countries, such as Canada, Belgium, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland and the United States of America. For Austria: Bundesministerium für Umwelt, Jugend und Familie, Sekten:
Wissen schützt, Wien (1999). For Canada: D. Hill, Study of Mind Development Groups, Sects and Cults in Ontario, A Report to the Ontario Government, Toronto, 1980; Canadian Security
Intelligence Service, Doomsday Religious Movements, 1999, www.csis- scrs.gc.ca/en/publications
/perspectives/200003.asp. For Belgio: Chambre des Représentants de Belgique, Enquête parlementaire visant à élaborer une politique en vue de lutter contre les pratiques illégales des sectes et le danger qu'elles représentent pour la société et pour les personnes, particulièrement les mineurs d'âge (1996-1997), www.lachambre.be/FLWB/pdf/49/49/0313/49K0313007.pdf. For France: A. VIVIEN, Les Sectes en France: expression de la liberté morale ou facteur de manipulations?,
Documentation Française, 1985. For Germany: Endbericht der Enquete-Kommission,
Sogenannte Sekten und Psychogruppen, Neue religiöse und ideologische Gemeinschaften und Psychogruppen in der Bundesrepublik (1998), www.bundestag.de/ftp/pdf_arch/13_10950.pdf. For
Netherlands: T.A.M. WITTEVEEN, Overheid en nieuwe religieuze bewegingen Tweede Kamer, vergaderjaar, report by the Dutch Government (1983-1984). For English Summary:
www.math.mcgill.ca/triples/infocult/DutchReport.pdf. For Switzerland: “Sectes” ou mouvements endoctrinants en Suisse. For USA: F.B.I., Project Mediggo, 1999, permanent.access.gpo.gov/lps35 78/www.fbi.gov/library/megiddo/megiddo.pdf.
168 Doc. Parl. Ch. Sess.ord. 1996-1997, 313/8: 208. The Security Officer in a hearing before the Commission noted the difficulties of his administration to intervene in the absence of a clear definition of the concept of "sect": cf. B. MINE, L'emergence d'un problème, cit., The idea was to create a Commission commissioned to develop a political strategy to combat the seven and the dangers they represent, especially for minors: Doc. Parl. Ch., Sess. ord., 1992-1993, 920/1: 1. specially in response to Council of Europe Recommendation 1178 of 1992. The Commission defines a sect as “un groupement contrectuel minoritaire de volontaires convertis partageant une meme croyance élitiste, soumis à un chef carismatique ou à une administration hiérarchisée, centralisée et autoritaire, dont les visées peuvent etre religieuses, politiques, économiques ou autres, mais dont le caractère essentiel avoué ets une conception pure du divin à laquelle il faut se soumettre pour assurer son salut”.
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formalized169. From the initial proposition emerged a concern about the danger of sectarian movements. At the same time, in addition to the Commission for Inquiry, CIAOSN (Center for Harmonized Sects) was established by a 1998 law, amended in 2004, and then structured as an independent organization, whose members are appointed by the House of Representatives170.
In 1997, the Belgian Parliament published a 670-page report drawn up by the Parliamentary Commission on Cults, which stigmatized around 189 religious groups with arbitrary charges, labelling them as "dangerous sects", despite the absence of any serious investigation, counter- examination or replication possibilities. This document concluded that the term "sect" in its current use had to be considered depreciatory but that neither the sect nor the "new religious movements" could be considered themselves harmful or pose a danger. On the other side the Commission had used the word "harmful sectarian organization" to define a group that has a psychological or spiritual vocation and which practices harmful activities for individuals or society or that violates human dignity171. This document has been adopted by the Belgian government to justify the adoption of multiple repressive measures against those religions defined as "sects", those actions have caused discrimination and marginalization of members of these religious communities172.
In 2011, a new law supplemented criminal law by introducing the criminalization of "abuse of weakness" in Belgium, as in France ten years before173. The political position assumed by both States as "sectarian
169 Cf. Law organique November 30th 1998 relative aux services de reisegnement et de securité, on Moniteur Belge, December 18th 1998, artt. 7-8.
170 Cf. http://www.ciaosn.be/lecentre.htm.
171 Chambre des Représentants de Belgique (in www.lachambre.be/FLWB/pdf/49/0313/49K 0313008.pdf).
172 Report 2004, on religious freedom in the world (in http://host.uniroma3.it/progetti/cedir/ Eventi/acs_rapporto_liberta_religiosa_2004.pdf).
173 In addition to providing such abuse as an aggravating circumstance for a number of infringements, the law has included an article in the penal code: art. 442 quater: “Quiconque aura, alors qu'il connaissait la situation de faiblesse physique ou psychique d'une personne, altérant gravement la capacité de discernement de cette personne, frauduleusement abusé de cette faiblesse pour conduire cette personne à un acte ou à une abstention portant gravement atteinte à son intégrité physique ou mentale ou à son patrimoine, sera puni d'une peine d'un mois à deux ans d'emprisonnement et d'une amende de cent euros à mille euros ou d'une de ces peines seulement. § 2. Les peines seront un emprisonnement d'un mois à quatre ans et une amende de deux cent euros à deux mille euros ou une de ces peines seulement dans les cas suivants :1° si l'acte ou l'abstention visé au § 1er résulte d'une mise en état de sujétion physique ou psychologique par l'exercice de pressions graves ou réitérées ou de techniques propres à altérer la capacité de
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tendencies" was, therefore, quite consistent, over a long period of time, until the recent ruling of 2016 on the Church of Scientology174.
The difference, within the varied numbers of sects, according to French and Belgian political elaboration, is underlined by c.d. "mental manipulation" which would distinguish the movements that the State must protect and guarantee, as an expression of religious freedom, and groups to marginalize, control and eventually suppress. It seems, however, obvious that such an approach risks to detract from resolving any problem and it does not offer any easy legal delineation tools.
3 - Jurisprudential Developments
There are numerous Belgian case law affecting the religious phenomenon, especially in these times concerning religious symbols and particularly the use of veil in workplaces175. In an attempt to reconstruct the concept of religion and its semantic field at the legal level, the reference must be obviously based on the jurisprudence of sectarian abuses176.
discernement; 2° si l'abus visé au § 1er a été commis envers un mineur; 3° s'il est résulté de l'acte ou de l'abstention visé au § 1er, soit une maladie paraissant incurable, soit une incapacité permanente de travail personnel, soit la perte complète de l'usage d'un organe, soit une mutilation grave; 4° si l'abus visé au § 1er constitue un acte de participation à l'activité principale ou accessoire d'une association. § 3. La peine sera la réclusion de dix ans à quinze ans si l'acte ou l'abstention de la personne a causé sa mort. § 4. Le tribunal peut, en application des §§ 1er et 2, interdire au condamné tout ou partie des droits énumérés à l'article 31, alinéa 1er, pour un terme de cinq ans à dix ans. § 5. Le tribunal peut ordonner que le jugement ou un résumé de celui-ci soit publié, aux frais du condamné, dans un ou plusieurs quotidiens, ou de quelque autre manière que ce soit". The law of November 26th 2011 entered into force on 2 February 2012, on
http://www.ciaosn.be/Moniteur_belge-120123-loi_abus_faiblesse-111126.pdf.
174 Cf. H. DE CORDES, L'État belge face aux dérives sectaires, CRISP, Bruxelles, 2006; B. MINE, La régulation du phénomène sectaire en Belgique, on Révue de droit pénal et de criminologie, 6, 2006, pp. 617-654; L.L. CHRISTIANS, Vers un principe de précaution religieuse en Europe? Risques sectaires et conflit de normes, on Annales d'études européennes, 4, 2000, pp.
229-273; A. LALLEMAND, Les sectes en Belgique et au Luxembourg, EPO, Bruxelles, 1994. 175 In 2015, the Brussels Tribunal condemned the regional employment agency Actiris for its working regulation prohibiting the use of religious symbols. In 2016, the case of Islamic veil in public schools led to the condemnation of the Haute Ecole in Liège, whose regulation prohibited the wearing of the veil: Affaire du voile, the Haute école de la Liège province was refaire son réglement, Rtbf.be, 6 October 2016. In the Flemish community, the State Council gave reason to a prof. of Islamic religion who had appealed against a circular that forbade wearing the veil: State Council, n. 233.672, February 1st 2016.
176 In a French circular it is possible to read a clear definition of sectarian drifts: “les atteintes portées par tout groupe ou tout individu, à l'ordre public, à la securité ou à
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The first jurisprudential action against Belgium is in 2005, following the political activities of the Commission of Inquiry into Sectarian Movements, concluded with a judgment of the Brussels Court of Appeal in favor of the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God. The Court emphasized that the Commission report could not be accepted and criticized the methodology, based on anonymous and unverified statements. In the same year, in another case, the same Court of Appeal condemned the CIAOSN against the Sahaja Yoga group for which it had published outrageous information, having also failed to comply with their legal obligations and violating the right of defence and absence of contradiction177.
The following year also ended with a convinction, the cause of the Anthroposophical Society against the French Community of Belgium, accused of incorrectly including false statements about the movement in an informative brochure against the sect and his guru, supported by an intense public awareness campaign178.
The most interesting case of recent Belgian case law is, however, represented by an important and well articulated decision of 2016 when the Criminal Court in Brussels rejected all allegations against the Church of Scientology and a group of Scientologists179. Controversial offenses, such as in the French case, were: fraud, extortion, abuse of the weakness of the child, abuse of the medical profession and lack of assistance of people in danger. Just as in the Paris case-law, the dissolution of the legal person of the
l'integrité des personnes par la mise en oeuvre de techniques de sujétion, de pression ou de menaces ou par des pratiques favorisant l'emprise mentale et privant les personnes d'une partie de leur libre arbitre”. Circular 19 September 2011 relating to surveillance and the fight against sects, on http://www.la-croix.com/Actualite/S-informer/France/Lutte-contre-
les-derives-sectaires-_NG_-2011-10-25-727597.
177 Cf. the text of the judgment of the Appeal Court of Brussels, April 12th 2011 on http://www.ciaosn.be/110412-cour_d%27appel_de_bruxelles-2008-AR-889.pdf.
178 In its decision in favor of the Anthroposophic Society, the Court ruled that the French Community was obliged to remove the controversial passages from the brochure and its website. Anthroposophy is defined by its advocates as a spiritual and philosophical path, based on R. Steiner's teachings. In its judgment of 7 April 2006, the Court imposed a symbolic damage of one euro on the French Community to be paid to the Anthroposophic Society and other anthropophosic institutions and members who participated in the Company's legal action. In another resort the same company contested the law of June 2nd 1998, which established an information and advisory center aimed at combating harmful sectarian organizations, but on March 21st 2000 the Arbitration Court rejected the appeal. In September 2000, the Anthroposophical Society filed a complaint with the European Court of Justice in Strasbourg.
179 First Instance French-speaking Court of Brussels, n. 01260, March 11th 2016, unpublished (a summary is on http://www.osce.org/odihr/268701?download=true).
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Church and the imprisonment of the defendants, had been demanded180.
The particularly lengthy judgment, of 173 pages, was the concluding moment of eighteen years of investigations. The Court has decided to reject unequivocally all the allegations, which are declared inadmissible. In particular, the total absence of objectivity towards such religious worship was observed, in violation not only of Belgian law but of art. 6, par. 1 of the European Convention on Human Rights.
The Court pointed out that the allegations made were in fact the procedure of a religion and that all defendants had been held guilty only on the basis of their voluntary commitment to Scientology. Indeed, it has emerged that no criminal offenses against individuals had been challenged and proven, according to the normal criteria of the determination of criminal law, but the accusations were generally addressed to Hubbard's ideology and teachings, their spiritual reference. The accusation, as in the Italian181 and French proceedings, had chosen to focus on the ideology or philosophy contained in the teachings of that author in attempting to demonstrate the criminal project contained in his doctrine, and the defendants had been presented as tools for achieving of the goals of Scientology's philosophy, for the realization of non-identified criminal
180Cf. Paris Criminal Court, October 27th 2009, n. 9835623114 v. Association Spirituelle de l’Église de Scientologie, SARL SEL, and others, unpublished. The investigation lasted for eight years, after which the Prosecutor of the Republic had made a request for 'no place to proceed'. The sentencing sentence issued in October 2009 covered both natural and legal persons, with custodial sentences and diversified funds. Cf. G. CAROBENE, Le minoranze
religiose tra normativa penale e diritti di libertà: rilievi a margine di una recente sentenza su Scientology, on Laicità e dimensione pubblica del fattore religioso. Stato attuale e prospettive, R.
Coppola, C. Ventrella(eds.), Cacucci, Bari, 2012, pp. 391-401, and also ID., Juridical Status
of Scientology in European Case Law, on Cultural and Religious Studies,, vol. 4, n. 5, 2016, pp.
321-331.
181 The Italian vicissitudes have been multiple the doctrinal and jurisprudential interventions, related to the tax affairs of the organization and to the long process of Milan. Among the first cf., inter alia, F. FINOCCHIARO, Note marginali sulle pseudo religioni in
Spagna, on Dir. Eccl., 1990, II, p. 323 ss.; ID., L’organizzazione di Scientology ed i suoi fini, on Dir. Eccl., 2, 1991, p. 122 ss. And ID., Scientology nell’ordinamento italiano, in Dir. Eccl., 1995,