FSB searches Church of Scientology’s St. Petersburg office in extremism probe — source

Searches are being conducted in connection to the criminal case concerning illegal entrepreneurship

TASS, Russia/June 6, 2017

St. Petersburg -- Officers of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) are conducting a search in the office of the Church of Scientology of St. Petersburg, a regional law enforcement source told TASS on Tuesday.

The press service of the St. Petersburg FSB Department confirmed that investigation activities were underway but declined to comment on the situation. "Searches are being conducted in connection to the criminal case concerning illegal entrepreneurship, incitement to hatred and the establishment of an extremist association," the source said.

In May 2017, the FSB carried out a search in the Center for managing activity on spreading dianetics and scientology located in the town of Losino-Petrovsky (Moscow Region) as part of a criminal case into illegal entrepreneurship launched against the Church of Scientology of St. Petersburg.

Dianetics and scientology is a religious and philosophic movement established in the United States in early 1950s by American author Lafayette Ron Hubbard. The scientific community does not recognize it as a science.

In Russia, some scientology files have been included in the federal list of extremism-related materials, their storage and dissemination on the country’s territory is prohibited.

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