Moscow court bans foreign cult

Itar-Tass, October 8, 1999

MOSCOW, October 8 (Itar-Tass) - A Moscow court has revoked a licence from the Russian branch of the Church of Scientology, city prosecutors told Itar-Tass on Friday.

A Moscow prosecutor filed a case against the Humanitarian Hubbard Centre this spring after an investigation had revealed violations of human rights. "This cult is excessively aggressive and dangerous and all of its members are unanimous in being completely loyal to the its ideals," Alexander Dvorkin of the Moscow patriarch's office told Itar-Tass. The Church of Scientology is under police surveillance in Germany because it is believed to be a commercial organisation with a focus on power rather than a religious one. It was banned in Greece in 1998. The Church was set up by U.S. science-fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard who