More trouble for Scientology in Hungary as 21 convicted of 'quackery' for detox program
Last month we told you that 11 Hungarian Scientologists had been indicted for tax fraud in Budapest as the result of a yearslong investigation of the church.
Now, our man in Hungary Péter Bonyai tells us that another 21 Hungarians have been convicted of misdemeanor charges of “quackery” and were sentenced to suspended prison terms without a trial in another part of the country. From an official press release…
According to the lengthy indictment, the defendants - 11 men and 10 women - carried out their activities as members of a non-profit organization based in Nógrád County, Hungary. The purpose of the organization was to provide, for a fee, a medication-free alcohol and drug withdrawal program as a service based on the research of a writer and philosopher.
“This clearly refers to Narconon Hungary, located in Garáb, Nógrád County, Hungary, and obviously L. Ron Hubbard is the writer and philosopher,” Peter tells us.
Also from the press release…
Also called the Purification Rundown, the withdrawal treatment started with an in-depth interview and later included the administration of prescription vitamins for their dosage, sauna therapy and additional touch-based treatments. In 2013, participants paid more than 4 million HUF for the treatment, rising to nearly 5 million HUF in 2014 and more than 6 million HUF in 2016.
The organisation stressed to the participants that this was not medical treatment, but it was in fact a curative one and a medical addiction rehabilitation activity for which the organization had no proper medical licenses. The defendants, acting in various capacities known as "specialists" and "case supervisors", were in fact carrying out medical activities and assistance, without any qualifications, licenses or authorisation, which they were aware of.
The Hungarian Chief Prosecution Office of the Capital charged the 21 persons with the misdemeanour of quackery and in its indictment proposed that the court impose a suspended prison sentence on them without trial. The Pásztó District Court (which had the jurisdiction to decide the matter) imposed the same sentence on all the accused as requested by the indictment and also ordered them to pay the costs of millions of forints incurred during the criminal proceedings.
This initial decision is not yet legally binding and subject to appeal.
So in the capital, Scientologists are being prosecuted for failing to charge tax for Scientology’s expensive pseudoscience, while in another part of the country Scientologists are being found guilty of performing quackery with the Purification Rundown — the same process, we’ll point out, that Tom Cruise was celebrated for foisting on 9/11 First Responders in New York City.
Thank you, Péter, for keeping us up on Hungary’s prosecutions of Scientologists!
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Péter Bonyai is one of my heroes and I find his actions beer worthy. Say what you want about Orban, Hungary got the fraud and practicing medicine without a license or any training correct.
Kudos to Peter for his reporting.