ODIT/UNews: Russian Company Caught 'pushing' Hubbard Extremism [translations]

Saturday, July 3, 2010

Russian Company Caught 'pushing' Hubbard Extremism [translations]

The Prosecutor’s Office has issued a complaint concerning coercion of an organization's employees to take L. Ron Hubbard (Scientology) training courses under threat of dismissal.

Samara, Russia [translate] ~ On June 30, 2010, Deputy Prosecutor Vilen Zatsepin issued a complaint to the director of RosKabelSvyaz, Lev Syrolev, concerning the elimination of violations of the Law on Countering Extremist Activities, of labor legislation, and of the Constitution of the Russian Federation.

A verification was conducted and it was found that the management of RosKabelSvyaz, in violation of Chapter 2, Article 19 and Chapter 2, Article 29 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation, of Article 3 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, and of Article 1 of the federal law "On Countering Extremist Activities", coerced employees of the organization, under threat of dismissal, to undergo training to improve production efficiency by taking L. Ron Hubbard (Scientology) training courses which involve studying works of L. Ron Hubbard.

An April 21, 2010 decision of the Surgut city court in the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug – Yugra ruled that works by L. Ron Hubbard are extremist on the grounds that they contain ideas justifying violence in general and, in particular, any means of opposing critics of Scientology. Hubbard’s works contain both explicit and implicit appeals for social and religious discord, for promoting exclusiveness by fostering the view of a person’s superiority or inferiority based on his or her social and religious affiliation and attitude toward religion, for impeding the lawful activity of state bodies, in particular judicial and law enforcement entities, and for committing crimes motivated by ideological and religious hatred.

Thus, by its actions to coerce employees of RosKabelSvyaz to study the ideology of Scientology and Hubbard's works, which have been recognized as extremist, the company’s management has violated the above-mentioned norms of law as well as the rights and lawful interests of the employees of the organization.