http://asia.yahoo.com/headlines/230999/world/938099580-90923151326.newsworld.html

Key French scientology fraud trial winds up, verdict in November

MARSEILLE, France, Sept 23 (AFP) - French scientologists charged with fraud denounced an "inquisition" against the organisation as their four-day trial wound up in this southern city Thursday.

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Meanwhile, US actor John Travolta, a member of the Church of Scientology, made a hurried departure from Paris the previous evening, cancelling interviews amid fears he could be called in as a witness to the case, members of his entourage said.

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Prosecutor Daniele Drouy-Ayral on Wednesday demanded a three-year sentence, including 18 months suspended, and a 200,000-franc (30,500-euro) fine against Delamare, former head of Church of Scientology centres in southern France.

She called for two-year suspended sentences against five women who still belong to the organisation and to a lighter sentence for a seventh defendent employed by the group for a mere three months.

The prosecutor argued that "beneath the religion there is a clear, institutionalised business drift" in which church officials practised "mental manipulation" to extort money from people with problems.

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But this second instance in a year of judicial files going missing in a scientology case whipped up allegations that scientologists had infiltrated government departments and the judiciary.

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