18
EXIT scs onlus, a partner of SOS
Abusi Psicologici, has continued its
mission in countering political and
religious extremism by participating
in conferences in Italy and Europe.
As representative of EXIT scs onlus,
Cristina Caparesi participated in
the EXIT group workshops for the
Radicalisation Awareness Network
(RAN), the network created by the
European Commission to tackle
violent extremism. Centers for families
of foreign fighters are emerging in
Europe, and we feel we can share
important lessons in this field.
Association meetings in Brussels,
Vienna, London, and Barcelona in
recent months include the following:
• December 8, 2015, Vienna:
Exit Strategies and Mental
Health Issues.
• March 16–17, 2016, London:
Outline for Interventions
of Deradicalization From
Involvement of Violent
Extremism.
• June 16–17, 2016,
Barcelona: Exploration
and Development of
Interventions: Dialogue
Between Exit Workers and
Researchers.
New meetings are planned in October.
The association SOS Antiplagio Novara
has made its 2015 report available
online at sosantiplagio.eu/
attivita-2015.html The report
encompasses events completed in
2015, general cases, and news from
local newspapers.
According to the Anticult Service,
AntiSette of Comunità Papa Giovanni
XXIII [The Association of the
Community Pope John XXIII], there has
been an increase in the phenomenon
of cults in Italy. The news, from Vatican
Radio, reports that the free hotline
of this Catholic association, created
by priest Don Oreste Benzi, received
1,238 requests for help, counseling, or
information about cults in 2015.
Report From Poland and
Russia
Piotr T. Nowakowski
Poland
On July 19, the Catholic daily Nasz
Dziennik published an article titled
“Uwaga na sekty” about the issue
of recruiting by cults and other
manipulative groups during summer
holidays. As the newspaper reports,
some dangerous groups may recruit
their members during large gatherings.
Because of this, the writers encouraged
people to remain vigilant even during
World Youth Day (WYD), held July 25–
31, 2016, in Krakow. WYD is an event
for young people organized every 2 to
3 years by the Catholic Church.
Russia
Dmitriy Sidorov, 44 years old, and his
brother Vyacheslav, 8 years younger,
killed six persons with a knife. It turned
out that the men were members of
one of Moscow’s cults. The murderers
explained that their guru convinced
them to kill the infidels and people
who wore black clothes, cursed,
or dropped litter on the streets. In
April 2016, the court in Moscow
gave the brothers a sentence of life
imprisonment, and the guru was
subjected to forced treatment. The
murderers divested their victims of
mobile phones so, according to the
police, the motive of the crime had a
financial aspect.
Report From Spain and
Latin America
Luis Santamaría
Translated by John Paul Lennon
Groups of Christian Origin
Two members of the Defenders of
Christ sect were sentenced in March
2016 to six years’ imprisonment in
Tamaulipas state, Mexico, for human
trafficking. According to the Attorney
General, those sentenced “took
advantage of their victims’ vulnerability
to force them to work, teaching
classes” and were guilty of “inhuman
and deplorable treatment” for financial
gain. This group, under the leadership
in Mexico of a Spaniard who claims he
is the reincarnation of Christ, already
had members taken into custody in
2013.
The Palmar Catholic Church, a Spanish
sect that split from the official Catholic
Church in the 1960s and established
its own Holy See during the 1970s
in the Spanish town of El Palmar de
Troya, with its own pope, has recently
made the headlines in Spain: Its third
pope, Gregory XVIII, resigned on April
22, 2016, declaring that everything
was a fraud, after which he left and
began a relationship with a woman.
Legal authorities are investigating
the isolated situation of the children
who live inside El Palmar’s Holy See.
Gregory’s successor is Swiss Joseph
Odermatt, who has taken the name of
Peter III.
A court in Seville has upheld the
decision to suspend and delay a
Jehovah’s Witness woman’s medical
procedure because she failed to
produce the necessary documentation.
She needed a kidney transplant, but
she rejected it for religious reasons.
Later, the patient sued public health
services on account of an illness she
contracted. The judge upheld the
original decision not to proceed with
the transplant.
Scientology
The Church of Scientology has
launched a promotional campaign
in Madrid through a series of spots
on local TV channels. The spot was
launched on Super Bowl Sunday.
Barcelona’s Intercultural Activities
Committee used Twitter to invite the
public to visit the headquarters of
Scientology in the city in April 2016,
to get to know “a religion that was
recognized in 2007 and that has about
4.500 faithful in Catalonia and is part of
ICSA TODAY
Correspondents
,
Reports
EXIT scs onlus, a partner of SOS
Abusi Psicologici, has continued its
mission in countering political and
religious extremism by participating
in conferences in Italy and Europe.
As representative of EXIT scs onlus,
Cristina Caparesi participated in
the EXIT group workshops for the
Radicalisation Awareness Network
(RAN), the network created by the
European Commission to tackle
violent extremism. Centers for families
of foreign fighters are emerging in
Europe, and we feel we can share
important lessons in this field.
Association meetings in Brussels,
Vienna, London, and Barcelona in
recent months include the following:
• December 8, 2015, Vienna:
Exit Strategies and Mental
Health Issues.
• March 16–17, 2016, London:
Outline for Interventions
of Deradicalization From
Involvement of Violent
Extremism.
• June 16–17, 2016,
Barcelona: Exploration
and Development of
Interventions: Dialogue
Between Exit Workers and
Researchers.
New meetings are planned in October.
The association SOS Antiplagio Novara
has made its 2015 report available
online at sosantiplagio.eu/
attivita-2015.html The report
encompasses events completed in
2015, general cases, and news from
local newspapers.
According to the Anticult Service,
AntiSette of Comunità Papa Giovanni
XXIII [The Association of the
Community Pope John XXIII], there has
been an increase in the phenomenon
of cults in Italy. The news, from Vatican
Radio, reports that the free hotline
of this Catholic association, created
by priest Don Oreste Benzi, received
1,238 requests for help, counseling, or
information about cults in 2015.
Report From Poland and
Russia
Piotr T. Nowakowski
Poland
On July 19, the Catholic daily Nasz
Dziennik published an article titled
“Uwaga na sekty” about the issue
of recruiting by cults and other
manipulative groups during summer
holidays. As the newspaper reports,
some dangerous groups may recruit
their members during large gatherings.
Because of this, the writers encouraged
people to remain vigilant even during
World Youth Day (WYD), held July 25–
31, 2016, in Krakow. WYD is an event
for young people organized every 2 to
3 years by the Catholic Church.
Russia
Dmitriy Sidorov, 44 years old, and his
brother Vyacheslav, 8 years younger,
killed six persons with a knife. It turned
out that the men were members of
one of Moscow’s cults. The murderers
explained that their guru convinced
them to kill the infidels and people
who wore black clothes, cursed,
or dropped litter on the streets. In
April 2016, the court in Moscow
gave the brothers a sentence of life
imprisonment, and the guru was
subjected to forced treatment. The
murderers divested their victims of
mobile phones so, according to the
police, the motive of the crime had a
financial aspect.
Report From Spain and
Latin America
Luis Santamaría
Translated by John Paul Lennon
Groups of Christian Origin
Two members of the Defenders of
Christ sect were sentenced in March
2016 to six years’ imprisonment in
Tamaulipas state, Mexico, for human
trafficking. According to the Attorney
General, those sentenced “took
advantage of their victims’ vulnerability
to force them to work, teaching
classes” and were guilty of “inhuman
and deplorable treatment” for financial
gain. This group, under the leadership
in Mexico of a Spaniard who claims he
is the reincarnation of Christ, already
had members taken into custody in
2013.
The Palmar Catholic Church, a Spanish
sect that split from the official Catholic
Church in the 1960s and established
its own Holy See during the 1970s
in the Spanish town of El Palmar de
Troya, with its own pope, has recently
made the headlines in Spain: Its third
pope, Gregory XVIII, resigned on April
22, 2016, declaring that everything
was a fraud, after which he left and
began a relationship with a woman.
Legal authorities are investigating
the isolated situation of the children
who live inside El Palmar’s Holy See.
Gregory’s successor is Swiss Joseph
Odermatt, who has taken the name of
Peter III.
A court in Seville has upheld the
decision to suspend and delay a
Jehovah’s Witness woman’s medical
procedure because she failed to
produce the necessary documentation.
She needed a kidney transplant, but
she rejected it for religious reasons.
Later, the patient sued public health
services on account of an illness she
contracted. The judge upheld the
original decision not to proceed with
the transplant.
Scientology
The Church of Scientology has
launched a promotional campaign
in Madrid through a series of spots
on local TV channels. The spot was
launched on Super Bowl Sunday.
Barcelona’s Intercultural Activities
Committee used Twitter to invite the
public to visit the headquarters of
Scientology in the city in April 2016,
to get to know “a religion that was
recognized in 2007 and that has about
4.500 faithful in Catalonia and is part of
ICSA TODAY
Correspondents
,
Reports
