Scientology
Scientology got blame for French suicide
By LUCY MORGAN
©St. Petersburg Times, published February
8, 1998
--------------------------------------------
LYON, France -- Nelly Vic's sad eyes begin telling
her story, even before she gets to the part about how her husband
jumped to
his death from their children's bedroom window.
The 41-year-old widow puts her head in her hands and
swallows hard as she recalls that last night before her husband, Patrice,
jumped from the 12th-floor window. Next to her sits a son, now 13,
who slept through his father's suicide.
Mrs. Vic blames her husband's death on the Church of
Scientology; the church's top official in Lyon badgered her husband
to
come up with $6,000 to take more Scientology counseling. Mrs. Vic
shares those hard feelings about the church with other families of
Scientologists who died at their own hand or under unusual circumstances.
What sets her husband's case apart is that criminal
justice authorities agreed.Jean-Jacques Mazier, the Scientology official,
was convicted of manslaughter and fraud in Vic's death. The French
court also ruled that Scientology was pressuring members for money
that wound up in Clearwater, where the church maintains its spiritual
headquarters.
As it happens, law enforcement authorities in Clearwater
are now deciding whether to bring criminal charges in the death of
another Scientologist, Lisa McPherson.
The 36-year-old woman died suddenly during an extended
stay at the church's Fort Harrison Hotel, and a medical examiner has
blamed her death on severe dehydration. Some similarities between
the two cases are striking. Both Vic and McPherson were
relatively young people who turned to Scientology for guidance. At
the urging of church officials, both spent heavily on
counseling and courses. After both deaths, Scientology officials blamed
official scrutiny on religious prejudice.
In the French case, the church hired private investigators
to research Vic's life and review the police investigation.
The church even checked Vic's credit cards,and a Scientology official
says Vic was spending money on prostitutes.
Scientology officials say the Lyon trial of Mazier
and other Scientologists was the modern equivalent of a heresy trial.
"It
was a witch hunt," said Mike Rinder, director of Scientology's
Office of Special Affairs.
For Vic's widow, however, the source of her husband's
frantic distress is clear. Before Scientology entered their lives
with the
offer of a free personality test, they had been a normal family, Mrs.
Vic said. Now, she lives with her teenage sons in a
rented apartment where the living room is crowded by four people and
a petite Christmas tree with blue ornaments, still
standing in mid-January. Life these days, she says, is "harsh."
* * *
In New York, for example, 24-year-old Noah Lottick
jumped from a 10th-floor window to a Manhattan street in 1990 after
taking a
series of Scientology courses. Family members discovered his body
lying unidentified in a morgue a month later
His father, Dr. Edward Lottick of Kingston, Pa., says
Scientology used high-pressure sales tactics to push Noah into expensive,
medically unsound courses.
Scientologists deny any responsibility for Noah Lottick's
death. Rinder, the church spokesman, said Lottick died after an argument
with his parents four days before his suicide. "I think Ed Lottick
should look in the mirror," Rinder said. "I think Ed Lottick
made his son's life
intolerable."
In England, Richard Collins, 24, jumped to his death
from a suspension bridge in Bristol in 1996. Relatives say Scientologists
were trying to keep him from leaving the organization and that he
felt besieged by their telephone calls. Rinder replied that Collins
left the church several months before his death and did not respond
to letters and calls from Scientologists who were trying to help him.
Several lawsuits have been filed against Scientology
by families who blame its "purification" programs for their
relatives' deaths. In Portland, Ore., the parents of Christopher Arbuckle,
25, filed suit after he took a Purification Rundown course that requires
running several hours each day in a sauna and a diet rich in vitamins,
including megadoses of niacin.
Arbuckle died after his liver failed. Arbuckle's parents
settled out of court for an undisclosed amount and agreed not to
discuss the case.
Scientology officials say Arbuckle died because he
had previously taken steroids and had pre-existing kidney problems
that
he did not disclose. Thousands of people around the world have successfully
completed the purification program and benefited from it, Rinder said.
Why did the church settle the Arbuckle lawsuit?
"The civil justice system has no guarantees,"
Rinder said. "You can spend millions of dollars defending when
people have absolutely no case. Look at Bill Clinton. There is no
guarantee you'll get justice. There is a guarantee you'll spend money,
and if you are the Church of
Scientology, there is a guarantee you'll get a lot of negative publicity."
Rinder and other Scientology officials bristle at questions
about the deaths of members, saying they are statistically insignificant
and are not connected to any church doctrine or practice. Similar
patterns would be found in the deaths among Baptists or Catholics,
Rinder said, or even among staffers at the St. Petersburg Times. In
fact, some of those members who died might still be alive if they
had stayed in Scientology, Rinder said.
"I don't like being accused by innuendo or directly
of doing things to harm people because it is absolutely directly opposite
to what I do," Rinder said. He called questions raised by the
Times "dishonest and reprehensible."
* * *
A petite woman with deep lines in her face that make
her look older than she is, Mrs. Vic frequently covered her face with
her
hands as she talked about the events that led to her husband's death
on March 24, 1988
The charges against Mazier and several other Scientologists
centered on the way they pressured prospective members who
needed help. Testimony also described foreign bank accounts that were
used to send money to Clearwater, where it paid for
training of high-level Scientology officials.
Mrs. Vic said Mazier kept pressuring her husband to
borrow 30,000 francs (about $6,000) so he could take the Purification
Rundown course after Vic had spent several months taking other less
expensive courses.
On the day before her husband's death, Mrs.Vic testified,
Mazier came to their home in Lyon and urged her to sign loan papers
for
the money. She said her husband became highly agitated, paced the
house and went to the Scientology center in Lyon instead
of going to his job as an industrial designer.
"Mazier said (Vic) was not well and had to take
this purification to get well," Mrs. Vic recalled. "I said
no, we have enough
money problems, we can't spend 30,000 francs like this."
After spending a day with Mazier and failing to convince
his wife to help obtain the loan, Vic returned home looking for
papers so he could apply for the loan by himself, Mrs. Vic said.
"He was just coming in and out, very agitated,"
she said. "He kept getting up out of bed, he was unable to sleep."
At 5 a.m. as she tried to stop him, Vic dashed toward
the window in the room where their two sons were sleeping. "He
said
"Don't keep me, it's the only solution,"' and he went through
the window, she told the Times. Patrice Vic was 31.
Mrs. Vic said her husband had been depressed, but had
not considered suicide before. She said he never saw Scientology
as a religion, but believed it could help him lead a better life.
Vic had turned down one job in another city because it had no
Scientology center, his widow said.
Mazier had planned to go with Vic to a bank to borrow
the money on the morning Vic killed himself. When Mazier called to
make
the arrangements, Mrs. Vic said, she told him of her husband's suicide.
Mazier's only response, she said, was "Ah, le
con," French for "the bastard."
Although Vic died in 1988, the case against Mazier
was not prosecuted until 16 members of a Swiss cult, the Order of
the Solar
Temple, committed suicide in France in 1995.
Mazier was convicted in 1996 of manslaughter and fraud
in connection with Vic's death. He was initially sentenced to
18 months in jail and ordered to pay Mrs. Vic and her two sons about
80,000 francs ($16,000) apiece. Last year, an appellate
court reduced his jail term to a three-year suspended sentence, but
affirmed the damages award to the Vics and a 500,000
franc ($100,000) fine. Because further appeals are pending, Mrs. Vic
has yet to collect any money.
At his trial, Mazier described himself as "a man
of the church" who was only trying to help Vic. "When someone
has difficulties
in life, Scientologists teach him how to put his life in order,"
Mazier said.
Mazier could not be reached for comment, but Scientology
officials say he remains a member of the church, and they defended
his
dealings with Vic.