“Preventive measures against some of them are under review, but they haven’t been detained yet,” the press service of the St. Petersburg and Leningrad Region FSB branch said
Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) has established key figures in its case regarding illegal business practices by the Church of Scientology of St. Petersburg, the press service of the St. Petersburg and Leningrad Region FSB branch told TASS.
“A number of key figures in the case have been established, preventive measures against some of them are under review, but they haven’t been detained yet,” the source said without elaborating the number of people involved.
The source added that during the investigative and search efforts, some facts emerged proving that the organization had carried out extremist activities aimed at inciting hatred and animosity, as well as at debasing human dignity.
According to earlier reports, searches in the office of the Church of Scientology in St. Petersburg began in connection with a criminal case regarding illegal business practices, inciting hatred and the establishment of an extremist association. The FSB source said that the searches were aimed at recovering evidence and documents proving the organization’s illegal activities.
In March 2017, the FSB carried out a search of the Center for administering the dissemination of Dianetics and Scientology located in the Moscow Region as part of a criminal case into illegal business practices launched against the Church of Scientology of St. Petersburg.
Dianetics and Scientology is a religious and philosophical movement established in the United States in early 1950s by American author Lafayette Ron Hubbard. The scientific community does not recognize it as a science.
In Russia, some scientology files have been included in the federal list of extremism-related materials, their storage and dissemination on the country’s territory is prohibited.
