Activities of Scientologists arouse concern in Russia

Russian psychiatrists are concerned about Scientologists' activities in Russia.

BBC Monitoring Former Soviet Union/September 17, 2003

Moscow -- Scientology is officially banned in Russia, Tatyana Dmitriyeva, director of the Serbskiy Centre for Social and Criminal Psychiatry, said at a conference on prison psychiatry in Moscow on Wednesday.

"However, Scientologists continue to work in this country in the guise of human rights organizations in order to cover the large sums put into Scientology," Dmitriyeva said.

She said one of the Scientologists' postulates has to do with psychiatry. "They believe that psychiatrists must not be allowed to treat people, as everything must be left to the will of God," she said.

She announced that Scientologists regularly hold protest actions in front of the Serbskiy centre and plan to hold another picket on Wednesday.

"Their main slogan is 'Psychiatrists, hands off humans!' They are also urging the government to stop financing psychiatry," Dmitriyeva said.