On January 21, 2008, Italian police rescued Frenchwoman Martine Boublil from a house where she was being held captive by Scientologists.

Ms Boublil had been kidnapped in France on the instructions of her brother, Claude Boublil, a senior Scientologist and doctor. She had been transported to Sardinia, where she was kept for 6 weeks, locked up in a room filled with trash.

According to the local police force, when rescuers found her she was in a terrible state of trauma, half-naked and sleeping on an mattress infested with vermin.

The Church of Scientology has a treatment called “Introspection Rundown“. It is designed to ‘assist’ members suffering from depression and other mental disorders. It is this procedure that led Boublil to be held captive for 6 weeks in a house in Sardinia.

Although Martine was no longer a follower of Scientology at the time of her kidnapping, her brother considered the methods of the Church the best way to treat her disorder.

Clearly Claude Boublil was wrong. After his sister was rescued, she had to spend several weeks in an Italian psychiatric hospital before being repatriated back to France.

Four French people, a woman and three men, all identified as members of the Church of Scientology were arrested on charges of kidnapping and holding Martine Boublil against her will.

At the time of her rescue, French daily newspaper “Le Parisien” reported details of Martine Boublil’s testimony, who said she had been “in hell”.

As back story to her ordeal, Martine explained that she had been a Scientology member for eight years before leaving.

Several years later, she was diagnosed with depression. According to the reports, her brother forced her to leave her home, and “took her by force to a house in Normandy belonging to a scientologist, then to Sarthe and finally to Sardinia”.

In Sardinia, she was forced to remain locked up in a “disgusting room” on the first floor of the house, guarded by two young men who did not speak to her. In fact no one would speak to her outside of the auditing sessions that would take place in another room of the house.

Boublil explained that to communicate with her, the captors would either blink once for yes, or leave their eyes open for no.

She had a chamber pot for sanitation and only a tee-shirt for clothing.

Her rescue finally came after she was able to use a piece of lipstick found amongst the trash in her room, to write an SOS message on some cardboard.

An opportunity arose to throw the cardboard out of a window of the house, into the garden of the neighbours. It was they who then alerted the police.

After those involved were arrested, jurisdiction issues began to arise. Initially, it was the Italian authorities pursuing investigations. However, the four scientologists did not remain in custody for long, and no convictions were made.

After arriving back in France, Martine Boublil lodged a complaint with the French Authorities, however without an official request for Franco- Italian co-operation, the French authorities were unable to act.

Shortly after the incident, French Scientology representative, DaniÃ le Gounord, stated that “no legal action was in hand in France” against its organization.

Furthermore, he denied any involvement of Scientology and insisted that it was a “family drama”, a position that Claude Boublil maintained throughout.

And here the media trail grows cold. Despite the early arrests by the Italian authorities, there is no indication that the four Scientologists that held Martine Boublil against her will, were convicted on any charges.

Considering Ms Boublil’s fragile mental state, and the usual actions of the Church of Scientology when facing charges against it, it easy to believe that justice was never fully served.

Scientology’s ‘Introspection Rundown’ Explained

Scientologists view psychiatry as a barbaric and corrupt profession and encourage alternative care based on spiritual healing.

The alternative methods of treatment in Scientology when a member suffers from depression or other mental disorders, are practices such as ‘Introspection Rundown’.

Introspection is defined for the purpose of this rundown as a condition where the person is “looking into one’s own mind, feelings, reactions, etc.” The result is “the person extroverted, no longer looking inward worriedly continuously without end.”

In essence, Scientologists believe that once a subject has successfully been through the process of ‘introspection’ they will be ‘cured’ of their mental instability.

According to L. Ron Hubbard, a subject undergoing IR treatment must be “isolated wholly with Auditing (psychological interrogation) sessions given frequently.”

Under no circumstance should the person be spoken to outside of those sessions. A key part of ‘Introspection Rundown’ is for “all attendants to be completely muzzled (i.e no speech).”

It is clear that Scientologists remain faithful to the instructions of their long deceased former leader. More recently, several internal memos have described the precise protocol to be followed when administering IR: “In the presence of a person undergoing a psychotic crisis, totally isolate this person, all communications made must be silent.”‘

To administer this rundown a Scientologist requires an education in Scientology beliefs and practices (which are dubbed “technologies” by the Church).

This education includes all of the technical bulletins (17 large volumes), all of the Scientology books (many) and hundreds of hours of recorded lectures, all of which must be understood and proficiency in them demonstrated step by step.

IR has been implicated in a number of cases beyond the kidnapping of Martine Boublil. The most infamous example in America is the wrongful death of Lisa McPherson, who died on December 5, 1995, while under the care of Scientology’s Flag Service Organization. She had endured 17 days of isolation on the Introspection Rundown.

The rundown can be obtained from Scientology as in the Technical Bulletins X collection, published by Bridge Publications, Inc. (Scientology publishing front) ISBN 0-88404-481-5 copyright 1991.

However, it is not readily available to the public, including prospective members of Scientology.