Bob wins, Scientology Loses.

28 Mar 2001

German_Scn_News <german_scn_news@hotmail.com>

Legal Decision

Minton wins -
Scientology Loses

[Editorial follows]

Berlin, Germany
March 27, 2001
on-the-spot account

Newsgroups: de.soc.weltanschauung.scientology
Subject: Minton vs. Weber etc
Date: Tue, 27 Mar 2001

Despite being sick I dragged myself off to the state court to see the trial hearing in matters of Minton vs. Weber, etc. and it was a good show, I'm glad I took the day off :)

Attending were another Scientology critic, Scientology Germany President Helmuth Bloehbaum, Scientology Berlin President Ute Koch (she holds other offices too), Attorney Bluemel, a guy who probably is a Scientologist but whose name I don't know, and a well-dressed woman. I suppose she was either a journalist or on staff with Minton's lawyer, Johannes Eisenberg, because she stayed for the next hearing but did not sit next to Eisenberg.

In the court sat the transcriptionist, the judicial trio (a gray-haired chairman who listened patiently to everything and two assessors, one of whom was very, very young). Sitting back were two more, younger people, I suppose they were law students. I stupidly did not note the name of the chairman, I think it was "Glogovski" or something.

Then things got started ...

The Court: A "foreign security" was done, that is a security form when certain non-EU countries go to court. If I understood correctly, then that was already done.

Bluemel: request to adjourn, only received the last memorandum March 20 difficult case difference of opinion with the Hamburg state attorney's office The Parliament matter (namely where the Nigerian Parliament determined that everything was upright) would have to be researched a limit on memos would also suffice, so that he would not have to travel to Berlin again.

Eisenberg: Scientology made the charges themselves then reported on their own proceedings You weren't supposed to spread libel first and then do your homework [I had to chuckle here!] he said the case was ready for a decision government documents showed that the campaign against Minton was running like a chess game according to LRH policy Scientology should not get records access.

Bluemel: Need records access because there are state proceedings against Caberta to clear her of the bribery. he hoped to find the connection to the flow of money. He wanted to know when the money flowed in order to build a connection.

Court: - considering whether there would be a limit on memoranda
- no indications that Minton was involved in juggling accounts
- Minton reduced Nigeria's debt
- Minton was not skimming money
- Scientology was not a "citizen's initiative." It was said no intelligence agency was obvious, but there was more behind it than met the eye. It was said to be a large organization with many possible options. That would include having to listen to opponents. Would have to get acquainted with the report of the investigative committee.

Eisenberg:
There was no connection to dictator Abacha, since Minton's activities ended in February 1993. Minton had not just gone and sold the debts to someone who was sitting there waiting for him. There was actually a market, you had to get the rates from Reuters. Scientology's campaign was perverse and poisoned the environment.

Bluemel:
He said the charge was not perverse. [The p-word made him angry.] He said the thing with Caberta stunk to high heaven He said Caberta hung like a puppet from Minton.

He said it had to do with her job because she supposedly said in the USA that it was all about Scientology.

He said the debts did not include a parity clause. He said individual creditors asked whether Minton worked for Nigeria, which he contested, therefore = fraud.

Mr. Raschid said everything was honest because he was in the middle of everything. He gave a charge of the Nigerian state against Minton. To that Eisenberg said that nobody had ever seen the original, just this translation.

Bluemel said he was sure that Greenland (company) also was funneling money out of the country.

Scientology had the right to respond and payback was heck, or similar German idiomatic equivalent. With no obligation to research first.

Eisenberg:
He didn't mean the charge was "perverse," but that the entire campaign was. He said this was not a matter of responding to an attack. For instance Minton had not expressed himself in Zehlendorf and OSA-FREIHEIT was distributed there.

He said the accusations were not factual, just derogatory and abusive. Only suspicion of accepting favors, not bribery, nevertheless the word "bribery" was written time and time again. [Bluemel was also using that word!]

Bluemel should give better advice to his client. Bluemel angrily rejected that notion.

Bluemel:
He said it was not his mission to prove that Minton had bribed anybody and it was not a smear tactic. He said there were 100 articles against Minton and only three of those supported Minton's standpoint.

Bluemel also mentioned two more things at one time or another: - Dreksler was said to have been ruined by suspicion and never reinstated [not true!] and people just let Minton do whatever he wanted

- In Munich garbage men were fired for accepting 25 DM and some of these had been confirmed by the Labor Court

The court said it would decide in the course of the day whether there would be additional court memoranda submitted. That was it, people left. The next case was waiting outside, Stroebele vs. Springer Verlag, Stroebele's attorney: Eisenberg :-) Unfortunately Stroebele was not there.

Tilman

I forgot one important point. Minton's attorney mentioned that Scientology's attorney had called the Hamburg state attorney to tell him when Minton was coming to Hamburg, and asked them to please arrest him. He mentioned that obviously Minton had been under surveillance by scientology.

Scientology's attorney later admitted the call, and claimed that there was a double standard in the treatment of scientologists and scientology critics, and used the Dreksler case as example. He did not elaborate on the surveillance of Minton.

Tilman Hausherr [SP5.55] Entheta * Enturbulation * Entertainment http://home.snafu.de/tilman/scientology_ger.html photos from Clearwater: http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Oracle/4497/clearwater2000

-=-

Editorial from Joe Cisar

Several years ago, Scientology had to pay the largest amount ever awarded in a libel case in Canada. Last year, Scientology's attorney had to apologize to Bonnie Woods for Scientology's libel. This year Scientology has lost to Bob Minton in another libel case.

These are not cases of individuals behaving in an anti-social manner who happen to be Scientologists. These are Scientologists who are actively practicing Scientology.

Scientology seems to be establishing a pattern for itself of spreading malicious, untrue information. People who trust an organization which behaves this way, then acts in bad faith about it, are not living up to their abilities.

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