BELGIAN federal prosecutors are preparing to bring charges, including fraud and extortion, against the Church of Scientology as a "criminal organisation", according to press reports.

Charges of fraud, illegal medicine, breaches of privacy and extortion have been drawn up against the church and two senior executives, 'De Tijd', Belgium's financial newspaper, has reported.

"The subpoenas have only just been sent to the Scientologists," the newspaper…

FORMER members of the Church of Scientology will hold a conference in Dublin next month to highlight the impact the movement has on followers.

The organiser is Pete Griffiths, a former director of an English Scientology mission, who says he has informed police at Dublin airport Scientologists may stage protests there against speakers arriving for the event.

Mike Rinder, a former chief spokesman for Scientology, claims when he came to Ireland in October he was…

A FRENCH appeals court has upheld fraud charges and a €600,000 fine against the Church of Scientology for cajoling followers into paying large sums for bogus personality tests and cures.

Rejecting the church’s appeal against a 2009 ruling, the court said two French branches of the US-based organisation were guilty of “organised fraud” and gave four of its leaders suspended jail sentences of up to two years.

A French parliamentary committee described Scientology…

The Church of Scientology is appealing a French court ruling that found it guilty of fraud for fleecing vulnerable followers and fined it hundreds of thousands of euros.

The 2009 conviction saw Scientology's Celebrity Centre and its bookshop in Paris, the two branches of its French operations, ordered to pay €600,000 in fines for preying financially on several followers in the 1990s.

Arriving for the hearing at a Paris court today, the group's spokesman, Eric…