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The Church of Scientology's Belgian branch faces a possible ban from the country if it is found guilty of charges including extortion and fraud.

In the trial, which began on Monday, the Church will defend itself against charges of fraud, extortion, running a criminal organisation, breaches of trade practices, violating the right to privacy, and the illegal practice of medicine, according to Belgian newspaper HLN. Twelve members of the Belgian branch and two affiliated bodies are implicated in the trial.


The church maintains it is innocent, and says the charges -- which have been brought in the home of its European headquarters -- are intended purely to discredit the organisation. "The Church of Scientology goes to court with the firm intention of seeing the fundamental rights of its Belgian members finally recognised," said a spokesperson from the group. "Not only does the church contest the charges against it, which affect the fundamental rights of all Scientologists, it also intends to denounce the serious judicial abuses against it of the past 18 years."

The group, which has revenues of £3,600 a week in Belgium, according to its statement in court, has been in a constant battle with Belgian authorities since 1997. In 2007 the Belgium government tried to classify it as a cult, but failed. Then, in 2008, authorities launched a second investigation into the church after a recruitment agency claimed it had made false job offers to try and gain new followers.

More recently, the church went to the European Court of Human Rights with a complaint against the Belgian authorities for leaking details of its investigations to the media. "The Church of Scientology complained of a violation by the prosecution to its right to a fair hearing, alleging that prosecutors had publicly given their opinion on charges against it," the ECHR wrote. But the complaint was thrown out after being declared unfounded.


The group faced its first criminal conviction in France in 2009, when it was found guilty of fraud and fined €600,000 (£540,000). Just before the five-month trial began, a change in French law meant the church couldn't be banned -- which may have happened otherwise.

Founded by sci-fi writer L. Ron Hubbard in 1953, the the Church of Scientology is headquartered in the US -- where it has constitutional immunity. It claims to have 12 million members worldwide, but is only recognised as a religion in a handful of countries.

In spite of A-List followers like Tom Cruise and John Travolta, the group has had a tumultuous history over which it has faced both legal and social battles; Anonymous declared war on the group and brought down its websites in 2008, and Wikipedia banned it from making or editing any articles in 2009. In 2014 Nasa wrote Hubbard out of its history.