A court in a Moscow suburb has banned works by Church of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard.
According to the Associated Press
The Shchyolkovo court ruled that “What is Scientology?” and other books by L. Ron Hubbard “contain calls for extremist activities,” the Prosecutor General’s office said in a statement.
It said that once the court decision comes into force, scientology books will be put on the federal list of extremist materials banned for release throughout Russia. The court made the ruling following a request by local prosecutors.
A court in the Siberian city of Surgut made a similar decision in April, but the Justice Ministry overturned its ruling.
The Church of Scientology has a lengthy record of hate and harassment activities, as well as other unethical behavior that was condoned and encouraged by Hubbard (see, for example, Dead Agenting and Fair Game).
Hubbard also came up with the pseudoscience the destructive cult markets.
“Experts have made the conclusion that founder of Scientology Ron Hubbard’s books and booklets aim to form an isolated social group, whose members are trained to perform their functions impeccably and most of whom are in a struggle with the rest of the world,” the Prosecutor General’s Office said.
