November 21, 2003

The Council of State Rules in Favor of Scientologists and the Right to Freedom of Information

The Council of State, France’s high court, has ordered the Renseignements Gnraux (RG), the country’s domestic security agency, to comply to the requests under the Freedom of Information Act made by 25 Scientologists to release the contents of the files it retains on them.

The Council of State first ruled, on July 30, 2003, in favor of Michel Raoust, president of the French Committee of Scientologists Against Discrimination (CFSD). The Court held that the government could no longer use vague and non-specific claims to bar French citizens access to information the RG kept on them. The Court stated that denial of access was wholly unwarranted “in the absence of any element in the folder establishing that the information concerning Mr. Raoust or the Church of Scientology in the Renseignements Gnraux files could not be communicated without violating public security or the security of the State” and that “Therefore, Mr. Raoust is fully justified in his demand that the decision denying him access to the information relating to him in the files of the Renseignements Gnraux be cancelled.”

Mr. Raoust, a computer engineer and human rights advocate, has since 1992 been attempting under the Freedom of Information Act to gain access to the personal file he knows the RG has been maintaining on him for decades.

Despite the Raoust decision of July 2003, the RG continued to refuse access to their files to 24 other Scientologists, claiming it would violate “public safety.” The Scientologists persisted, and in a decision of November 21, 2003, the Council of State ruled in their favor, confirming the judgment of July 30, 2003 and ordering the RG to allow these 24 Scientologists to see the information the agency keeps on them.

The July 30, 2003 decision had established a new jurisprudence contributing to a more democratic approach by the RG. Since the judgment, several members of political, philosophical or religious minorities have taken advantage of their rights based on that legal precedent.

“We are very happy to have created this legal precedent for freedom of information (FOI) in France,” Mr. Raoust stated. “In many countries, Scientologists were pioneers of FOI, either by getting new laws passed, or by establishing a jurisprudence reinforcing civil liberties.”