France: Mr Guyard found guilty of defamation for having called Anthroposophy a cult; parliamentary report called "not serious" by the Court of Paris (March 21, 2000)

MP Jacques Guyard was the main author of the 1996 first French parliamentary report on cults and the president of the commission which published the second of such reports in 1999. He is also a prominent member of the French governmental Mission to Fight Cults (MILS). On March 21, 2000, the Justice Court of Paris found him guilty of defamation for having called Anthroposophy "a cult" (secte) practicing "mental manipulation". Guyard was fined FF 20,000 and ordered to pay FF 90,000 to the antroposophical Federation of Steiner Schools. Guyard's argument was that Anthroposophy was regarded as a cult in the second French parliamentary report (1999). The Court stated that "the investigation [of that parliamentary report] was not serious. It is proved that it only considered affidavits by alleged 'victims' of Antroposophy but that neither the authors of these affidavits nor the alleged perpetrators were heard by the [parliamentary] commission". The Paris judges also decided to strip Guyard of his parliamentary immunity in connection with this case.
 
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