FECRIS, a subversive group in the heart of Europe

They run from France a network spread in tens of countries

French politicians and anti-cultists are trying to harm civil rights in Italy (and in other several countries) through FECRIS. French funds used to conduct an endless campaign of incitement against religions throughout Europe. These same characters and groups (now affiliated members of FECRIS) who used to kidnap people for “deprogramming” purpose, are now organized as a specialized group of libelers.

logo FECRIS

The anti-cultists’ campaign of hatred and intolerance has its instigators and financiers. It’s time to cast one’s eyes beyond the ranks of the soldiery of which we have spoken so far, in order to see who is running them.

Let’s make a brief introduction to summarize the general lines of what we already know of the Italian actors, to then move on to the true subject of this article.

The Italian associations forming the so called Anti-Cult FORUM (FAVIS, CeSAP, ARIS Veneto and ARIS Toscana) and that cooperate with the Anti-Cult Squad (S.A.S.) of the Ministry of Interior, are the laborers, the marginal executors of a system organized to overcome – violating them – the constitutional limits that were erected to defend the freedom of belief, thought and expression.

Their aim is to bring about an anti-cult hysteria. They do it constantly spreading alarming news. They alter, swell and twist information and statistics to make people believe that in Italy there are thousands of “dangerous cults” – practically one around each corner – that swindle hundreds of thousands of ordinary people and dupe millions of incapables. When there is no news they can alter, they invent some out of whole cloth.

It’s enough to take a look at the myriad of weird “news” releases, at the hundreds of lectures, debates, conferences and seminars they constantly organize to launch their alarming messages and then compare them to the day-to-day life and events to understand that we are facing an organized campaign designed to transform a non-issue, into a real one. Always the same people, always the same associations, year after year, decade after decade, and always the same four cats repeating same old stories and gathering in conventions and congresses in front of the usual “speakers” and “experts”.

Mission: repeat ad nauseam that “cults are dangerous, they are everywhere, they are destructive and they must be absolutely eliminated”. Anytime, anywhere, anyhow for omnia secula seculorum. Hysteria, this is the goal, like in other times hysteria against witches, heretics and Jews was sown.

In the 80ies and 90ies, the founders of the anti-cult groups were involved in kidnapping aimed to “deprogram” through violence and coercion followers of religious groups. The alarming media campaigns inciting hatred against “cults” made it possible to resort to kidnapping and deprogramming without suffering serious legal repercussions, at least initially. Now they vainly deny that past (see articles “Anti-cult Forum and kidnapping - Act 1, Act 2 and Act 3).

Then times have changes and after some complaints and some trials, the anti-cultists have abandoned the deprogramming [1] and changed strategy.

As we all know, those listed are not the only anti-cult groups operating in our country. There are others – more or less secular –small associations and then there is the Catholic golem called GRIS (Group of Socio-Religious Research and Information – formerly the “S” stood for Sects, but was later on replaced with the more politically correct “Socio-Religious”).

Funded and supported by the diocese and officially recognized by Cardinal Camillo Ruini, President of the CEI (Italian Episcopal Conference), GRIS was created to defend “the wine of the Catholic inn” arguing how dangerous and counterfeit is that of the “non-Catholic ones” (Anti-cult Ecumenism).

Officially GRIS has no connections with the S.A.S., but the relationship is very close, if we consider that the official contact of S.A.S. is the Catholic priest don Aldo Buonaiuto (The Anti-cult Squad). Moreover, the S.A.S. was born as a result of Catholic pressures, at least according to what Maurizio Alessandrini of FAVIS wrote on July 14, 2009 to the then President of the Senate Renato Schifani. Here’s an abstract followed by its English translation:

(original italian)

estratto lettera Alessandrini

(english translation)

english translation

S.A.S., although an official government body funded with taxpayers’ money, is only the executive arm of this plan that strongly smells of unconstitutionality.

Alike in the past centuries, the hatemongers (the anti-cultists) unleash ideological fanaticism against alleged social dangers to spread alarm and fears in order to trigger panic. Then the cops of the civil authorities give play to the persecutions that nowadays, rather than with auto-da-fé, are carried out through media shackles and farcical and specious trials, no less violent than the deprogramming practiced by the first anti-cultists.

Perhaps the introduction was not exactly short, but necessary to make the point and to move on.

The Italian anti-cult associations, in particular those of the Anti-Cult Forum, are part of a European Federation called FECRIS. We have mentioned FECRIS in previous articles, but we have never examined the subject as it would deserve.

FECRIS is the Fédération Européenne del Centres de Recherche ed d’Information sur le Sectarism (European Federation of the Centers of Research and Information on Sectarianism), founded in Paris in 1994 and based in Marseille, with members and correspondents in some thirty countries.

Although FECRIS is representing itself as a set of associations that spontaneously federated to defend human rights from “organizations with sectarian and totalitarian characteristics”, in reality it was created by two French anti-cult associations called CCMM (Centre Contre les Manipulationes Mental) and UNADFI (Union Nationale des Associations de Défense de la Famille et de l’Individu). In turn, these associations are organisms wanted and financed by some politicians who have exploited to this end their position within the French Institutions and the Government.

Before to continue speaking about FECRIS, let’s talk a bit about CCMM and UNADFI.

Alain VivienIn the 90ies the president of CCMM was Alain Vivien. When chairing this private anti-cult group, Vivien was at the same time a member of the French Parliament.

His extremely alarming report against “cults” dates back to 1983 (but it was made public only in 1985). Such a document was very similar to the infamous report on cults of 1998 published by the Italian Ministry of Interior (State Alarm).

Alain Vivien’s report on “Cults in France” recommended, among other things, the establishment of a government entity dealing with the “cult problem”. This entity was created in 1996 with the name of Observatoire Interministériel sur le Sectes (Inter- Ministerial Observatory on Cults).

While remaining an administrator of the CCMM, Vivien became the president of this observatory in 1998 when its name got changed to Mission Interministerielle de Lutte Contre less Sectes (MILS – Inter-Ministerial Mission for the Fight against Cults)

The MILS depended directly from the French Prime Minister’s Office, had access to the funds allocated to various ministries and was working with the French Police and the Secret Services (RG - Renseignements Généraux).

From his position as President of the MILS, Vivien established a stable public funding line both for CCMM and UNADFI.

For its strongly repressive and discriminatory activity against religious movements, MILS was severely and repeatedly criticized by foreign observers, including the American State Department.

In November 2002, following financial scandals concerning the misuse of substantial funds allocated for the “fight against cults”, Vivien resigned and MILS was dismantled. Vivien had spent half the MILS budget for trips abroad, and other relevant amounts for the purchase of luxurious and useless buildings for UNADFI and CCMM.

MILS was replaced by MIVILUDES (Mission Interministérielle de Vigilance et de Lutte Contre le Dérives Sectaries) which, after a short period of adjustment, resumed the same activities of the MILS.

Here’s a chart showing the amount of funds which, for example, UNADFI received under Vivien’s management of the MILS:

UNADFI grants 1996-2000

Below, other charts showing the proportion of public funds received by UNADFI compared to the funds received from private subjects (donations and memberships):

UNADFI grants graph 1996-2000

The same amount of funds was and is appropriated also to CCMM. Practically, UNADFI and CCMM (and now also FECRIS) receive the vast majority of their funding by the French government and only a minimal part by private citizens.

Operating all over the French territory, UNADFI and CCMM, have at their disposal a “catchment area” of over 66 millions of inhabitants. Citizens who, for decades, have been flooded with Government-funded incessant and hammering media campaigns about the “danger of cults”.

Nevertheless, the private funds coming from memberships, donations and gifts in support of their work, represent only a tiny proportion of their revenues, which demonstrates that public appreciation for their activities is almost zero.

As an example, Medecins sans Frontieres, one of most renowned and respected NGOs in France, receives only the 5% of their income from the Government, while the vast majority of their funds comes from supporters, allies and associates.

On the contrary, UNADFI and CCMM receive over 97% of funding from public entities and less than 3% from private individuals and supporters. Here is the comparison:

comparision graph

The above gives us an understanding of the environment that generated the modern European anti-cult movement.

In spite of financial scandals, international critics and the resignation of Alain Vivien, the MIVILUDES-UNADFI-CCMM partnership was working very well in France.  Thanks to the generous public funding, over the years they have managed to create in France a real phobia about “cults” through media campaigns and official reports of the MIVILUDES based on “information” provided by CCMM e UNADFI.

But France was isolated in Europe and widely criticized for the intolerant policy of a “too aggressive laity” in matter of religious freedom. A solution was needed to get the French model accepted and exported in other countries. The chosen solution was the creation of a European federation of anti-cultists controlled by France, FECRIS, in fact.

From the consultation of documents of a now disbanded and discredited American anti-cult association called CAN (Cult Awareness Network) [2], we learn that the idea of creating FECRIS dates back to 1987. This was discussed during an international conference sponsored by the American Family Foundation (AFF, the American anti-cult sister association of the deceased CAN) held in Barcelona, Spain..

The next International conference was held in Paris on 27 and 28 April 1990, hosted by the AFF and its French counterpart ADFI [3]. Before the conference, the president of AFF Herbert L. Rosedale addressed the following letter of tank to Cynthia S. Kisser, the Executive Director of CAN:

I want to express my appreciation to your association for having sent one of your representatives at the meeting that we, the American Family Foundation (AFF) and the Association pour la Defense des Families et de I'Individu (sic) (A.D.F.I.), will be holding in Paris … The purpose of the meeting is discussing the methods with which organizations dealing with education on cults can cooperate to achieve common benefits … it will be a meeting to begin a process of cooperative planning and thus publicity is not welcome”.

Herbert L. Rosedale chaired the meeting in Paris during which the plans were finalized and decisions were made to form an international anti-cult group. In fact, after the conference, Rosedale became the temporary president of the so-called “Consortium of groups” representing different nations. Rosedale offered the experiences of CAN and AFF as operational models that were to be adopted by the European groups.

The French-American plan of ADFI, CAN and AFF to create the European anti-cult organization was developing slowly, both for the age-old anti American sentiment existing in France and for the difficulty in gaining support from other European countries. Then, in April 1994, Cynthia Kisser came to Europe to unblock the situation and visited anti-cult associations in England, France and Germany.

Finally, on June 30, 1994, FECRIS was formed and registered with the French Government entities. The director of ADFI Jacques Richard was chosen as the first president. At the time of the incorporation, FECRIS included only European associations, but Jacques Richard reassured Mrs. Kisser that the word “European” in the name FECRIS was not meant as an exclusion of non-European groups.

At the time, Alain Vivien was the president of CCMM and he worked on the front line for the realization of this project. He held the office until the birth of MILS of which, as we saw, he assumed the presidency in 1998.

In addition to supporting the project for the creation of the Federation of European anti-cult associations, since the second half of the 80ies, the leaders of CAN and AFF instructed the members of the anti-cult groups [4] that later on formed the FECRIS on the “deprogramming” techniques.

In 1995, CAN was hit by dozen of criminal and civil cases stemming from numerous failed attempts of forced deprogramming. The legal troubles drained the energies and finances of the leaders of the CAN, until when, on October 23, 1886, the association closed its doors and underwent a procedure for bankruptcy, at the conclusion of which, its properties and archives were auctioned.

Even in the absence of CAN, AFF maintained and expanded its contacts with FECRIS.

After its incorporation, under the aegis of MIVILUDES and CCMM, FECRIS had immediate access to the same line of funding from the French Government, which, as for the other two groups, began to assign to them annually appropriate amounts so that they could act as European disseminators of the anti-religious policy of that country.

FECRIS representatives are not clearly admitting this funding, but the documentation that follows, related to year 2006, proves its existence beyond any doubt.

lettera a FECRIS

As shown in the scheme that follows, compiled by FECRIS itself and which relates to years 2003 – 2008, FECRIS receives these grants year after year only from the French Government and from no other entity of other countries. It cashes a small amount of money from the memberships and nothing else from private individuals.

specchietto finanziamenti pubblici-privati

The same thing has been happening each year, from the incorporation of FECRIS until today. Other funds, always coming from the French Government, are made available for the activities of the federation led by FECRIS, through UNADFI and CCMM.

Obviously, these are not the only funds that all these French associations receive from that Government.

For example, as mentioned earlier, the scandal that engulfed Alain Vivien also related to the improper use of a large sum (around 700,000 euro of today) for the purchase of a property to be allocated to UNADFI and a similar amount spent on a building for CCMM.

If there were any doubt about the fact that the Italian associations federated with FECRIS (FAVIS, CeSAP, ARIS Toscana and ARIS Veneto) benefit of the French funds, here is an email that the current secretary of FECRIS Mireille Degen sent to them in occasion of the FECRIS conference of Warsaw in 2011.

(original italian)

email Mireille Degen

(english translation)

english translation

Although the law does not allow that associations funded by a government agency obtain the NGO status, the Council of Europe granted such accreditations to FECRIS in 2005, not without controversy from various sources throughout Europe.

Although public funding and accreditations at the Council of Europe and other organizations, the federation of associations belonging to FECRIS is, in fact, a sham, a half-empty shells.

The appearance of branched and powerful organization is just that: an appearance.

Suffice it to say that the so-called General Secretary of FECRIS and representative of the office of Brussels, Mireille Degen, is a retired teacher and the registered seat of the Belgian FECRIS is the living room of her apartment, while the correspondent and treasurer of Marseille FECRIS, Didier Pachoud is a tram driver and the seat of the association, his guest room.

The scene is no different for the Italian anti-cult associations federated to FECRIS. They, too, like most of the associations belonging to the FECRIS, are actually tiny groups which, as we have seen above, thanks to the French public funds, participate to “international” conferences held at regular intervals in the various European Union countries. The evident effort is to export in all member states the French model of “fight to cults”.

It should be added that the members of FECRIS, widely lacking academic qualifications and professional skills, have, in their curricula, other “qualities” that make them at least unreliable. Here is a partial and not updated list of convictions and judgments issued against groups and representatives of FECRIS:

1. ADFI Paris – On May 1992 was condemned by the Paris County Court (Tribunal de Grande Instance) for defamation regarding Mrs. Josiane Henri and Mr. Ian Combe. (Decision RP 59 656, RG 7 987/92, ASS/20.02.92, Civil Trial Court of General Jurisdiction of Paris, 1st Chamber, 1st Section).

2. Janine Tavernier (President of UNADFI) 5th February 2003. The Paris Court of Appeal confirmed the judgment in the civil proceedings against Janine Tavernier and UNADFI (decisions of the Paris County Court of 20 November 2001).  Case N° 01/03757, Decision of February 5th, 2003, Appeal Court of Paris, 11th Chamber, section A.

3. Mrs. Ovigneur-Dewynter (President of ADFI Nord) – 15th January 1997. The Douai Court of Appeal condemned Mrs. Ovigneur-Dewynter, President of ADFI Nord for defamation regarding the Cultural Association of the Jehovah’s Witnesses in France. Case N° 96/02832, Decision on January 15th, 1997, 4th Chamber, Appeal Court of Douai.

4. Jacky Cordonnier (UNADFI member) – 29th March 2002. Criminal conviction for defamation. The Marseille County Court condemned her for libel regarding the association of Jehovah’s Witnesses. Decision n° 2972/02 Number 01207964.

5. Mrs. Tavernier (President of UNADFI) – 5th January 1994. Criminal conviction for defamation. The Paris Court of Appeal confirmed the judgment regarding the culpability of libel of Mrs. Tavernier and the punishment imposed on her by the Paris County court on 22nd June 1993. Decision n° 5490/93, APPEAL COURT OF PARIS, 11th Chamber on 5th January 1994.

6. Friedrich Griess (Secretary General of FECRIS) – Court case: 17Cg 15/96d in Vienna Commercial court in Sept. 1996. Conviction for defamation about the Christian Family Fellowship, Styrian Christian Fellowship and the Life Fellowship (Norwegian Movement) including that they enlist people by “flirty fishing”, engage in incest, adultery and deceit.

7. Friedrich Griess (Secretary General of FECRIS) – Court case: 17Cg 15/96d in Vienna Commercial court in March 1997. Conviction for defamation with regard to the Christian Family Fellowship, Styrian Christian Fellowship and the Life Fellowship (Norwegian Movement) “Norwegians”.

8. Friedrich Griess (Secretary General of FECRIS) – Court case: 37Cg 77/98x in Vienna Commercial court on Sept 1998. Conviction for defamation for allegations against the Christian Family Fellowship, Styrian Christian Fellowship and the Life Fellowship (Norwegian Movement). Fine of 60,000 Austrian shillings.

9. Friedrich Griess (Secretary General of FECRIS) – Court case: 17 O 85/98 in Stuttgart County Court in Germany – June 1998. Conviction for defamation against the “Norwegian movement”.

10. Friedrich Griess (Secretary General of FECRIS) – Court case: 37Cg 19/00y in Vienna Commercial court in March 2000. Conviction for defamation and ordered by court to publish a correction statement on his web page and establish a link to the web page of the Norwegian Movement.

11. Friedrich Griess (Secretary General of FECRIS) – Court case: GZ 8E 3407/00 w in Klosterneuburg District Court. Violation of settlement agreement. He did not pay a fine and was ordered to remove false information from his web page and from search engines.

12. Friedrich Griess (Secretary General of FECRIS) – Judgment procedure GZ 8F 2687/02 s-3 in Klosterneuburg District Court. Violation of settlement agreement and order to pay a fine.

12. SADK, 1990 (FECRIS member group) – Switzerland In 1990, two members of FECRIS member group SADK were sentenced to prison in connection with a violent deprogramming attempt on a member of the Hare Krishna movement. Mr. Rossi, who at the time was the spokesman for SADK, spoke out loudly in favor of the deprogramming (during which the victim had been subdued with tear gas) saying “We support and approve the deed.”

13. FRI, 1990 (FECRIS member group) – Sweden Case Nr B4901-88, ref. Nr. 75636712, issued December 19, 1990. In this judgment FRI-member Eva Pehrsson (now Pohl) was sentenced for the illegal deprivation of liberty and kidnapping of Gustavsson.

14. FAIR, 1987 (FECRIS member group) – United Kingdom Cyril Vosper, at the time an executive board member of FAIR, was convicted in Germany for false imprisonment and bodily harm in December 1987.

15. Ian Haworth (FECRIS founding member and part of UK group Cult Information Centre (CIC) He has a court decision against him on 24 Oct 1989, when the Supreme Court of Ontario (Canada) ordered he pay $10,000 in libel damages to a philosophical group. At the time Mr. Haworth was involved in a similar group to CIC in Canada. On the 17 April 1996 there is also a UK High Court decision against him for non-payment of the damages award.

16. Friedrich Griess, Segretario Generale della FECRIS – Procedimento 17 O 85/98, Tribunale Regionale di Stoccarda, Germania, giugno 1998. Ennesima condanna per diffamazione nei confronti della Life Fellowship (Movimento norvegese).

17. AGPF and Sect-Info Essen (FECRIS member group) – The German Federal Supreme Court ruled on 27 March 1992 that it was unconstitutional  for the State to provide funding for organisations such as AGPF and Sect-Info Essen, both FECRIS member groups. (The case was brought by the new religious movement, OSHO, Ref. Case Nr. 7C21-90LU66).That AGPF and Sect-Info Essen deal with new religious movements in a way that cannot be considered objective or neutral was made clear in this decision.

18. Ms. Heide-Marie Cammans (Founder of Sect-info Essen - FECRIS member group) – In a final judgment on 19th December 2001 by the Munich State Court, Ms. Heide-Marie Cammans, founder of FECRIS member group Sect-info Essen was ordered to stop circulating falsehoods about Takar Singh (an Eastern religious group) on pain of being fined up to 500,000 DM or, if not paid, jailed for up to 6 months. Case Nr. Az: 908736/99 Munich I State court, 9 civil chamber (German: Landgericht Munchen I).

19. Siren (FECRIS correspondent group) – 27 March 1997. 2 members of the group were convicted of kidnapping in The Netherlands.

20. AIS/PRO Juventud (FECRIS member group) – (Canals case 1995) Spain which states that: “That the group AIS had intervened in all breaches of fundamental rights which the accused has suffered of. That neither the President nor her group had any consent at all to carry out any ‘therapeutic work’ on him. That this group did not have any kind of judicial authorization to replace the lack of ‘consent’ of the supposedly ill person. That in consequence, in a State of Rights, it is not possible to tolerate the degradation, whatever the purpose may be, of a citizen that has proven his mental integrity."

21. AIS/PRO Juventud (FECRIS member group) (Riera Blume case, 1999) European Court of Human Rights which states that “In the light of the foregoing, the Court considers that the national authorities at all times acquiesced in the applicants’ loss of liberty. While it is true that it was the applicants’ families and the Pro Juventud association that bore the direct and immediate responsibility for the supervision of the applicants during their ten days’ loss of liberty, it is equally true that without the active cooperation of the Catalan authorities the deprivation of liberty could not have taken place.”

This list is certainly incomplete, but we cannot avoid mentioning the examination of the “qualifications” of the representatives of FECRIS without mentioning the exploits of its current Vice-President Alexander Dvorkin.

Alexander Dvorkin

Besides being the vice-president of FECRIS, Dvorkin is the founder and president of the Association of Russian Centers for the Study of Religions and Cults (RACIRS) and one of the main consultants for the Russian Ministry of Justice.

Often the subject of severe criticism by scholars and religious leaders for his intolerant and discriminatory statements, Alexander Dvorkin has recently been declared an unwelcome person in Ukraine (see articles published by Human Rights Without Frontiers).

Criticized by the Minister of Justice A. Konovalov, Alexander Dvorkin has recently risen to the headlines for his psychiatric history.

It appears that Dvorkin has been repeatedly institutionalized in psychiatric facilities and that we was diagnosed a cyclothymia (manic-depressive disorder), a pathological development of personality and a psycho-physical infantilism.

According to the website www.alexanderdvorkin.info, that published his clinical records, and to the media that picked up the news “Based on the Russian and foreign psychiatric practical experience, the above diagnoses cannot be fully cured. Only temporary remission is possible. A patient who has disorders of the manic-depressive kind is supposed to be under the supervision of a psychiatrist, have appointments with him at least once a week and constantly receive supportive treatment in the form of psychotropic  medications prescribed by the doctor who is in charge of the case. The revealed disorders make the patient incapable of scientific, social or political activities of any kind due to extreme subjectivity of perception and inability to adequately evaluate the consequences of his actions or take responsibility for them.” A non professional translation of the media about this news can be consulted here.

In summary:

1) FECRIS is an International organization wanted by anti-cult groups, politicians, French government authorities that have copied the ruinous American experience even in the illegal practice of forced “deprogramming”:

2) MILS (today MIVILUDES) is not unlike from the Italian S.A.S. and plays a similar role taking advantage from the work of anti-cultists;

3) French politicians who support UNADFI, CCMM and FECRIS play the same role of the Italian politicians who support the Italian Anti-Cult FORUM (see There's nothing to be Allegrini and following ones) to promote and support illiberal law and resolutions;

4) lFECRIS is funded by the French government that, through it and its corresponding associations in various countries, seek to subvert national policies regarding freedom of religion or belief;

5) Even though illegal (since financed by a public body), FECRIS is accredited at the Council of Europe and other international bodies where it performs and intense lobbying (see here a very recent example);

6) FECRIS performs its destructive work in many countries replicating the French model of an anti-cult hysteria incitement through pre-planned media campaigns, based on false or misleading information and statistics, carried out through the network of federated associations;

7) The associations belonging to FECRIS are for the most part little more than empty shells, whose “research” and “study” activity does not exist and which is just a cover for the diffusion of alarming information;

8) Their main activity is the exploitation and/or invention of incidents concerning “cults” and the recruitment and exploitation of escapees and apostates in order to substantiate their anti-cult thesis and to produce more “news” for their media campaigns;

9) In the performance of this activity they involve reckless politicians who propose laws, motions, interrogations and recommendation unfavorable to religious movements, then they incite narrow-minded prosecutors to stir up ungrounded prosecutions that, when do not end in acquittals, produce aberrant judgments;

10) The unreliability of the “anti-cult experts” of FECRIS and of its corresponding associations is proven by the legal proceedings mentioned above and by the psychiatric history of their vice-president Alexander Dvorkin.

It is for readers to judge.

Notes:

[1] Besides being a violation of the criminal law in all countries of the European Union, the practice of forced deprogramming violates article 9 of the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, which states that “Everyone has the rights to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this rights includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief, in worship, teaching practice or observance”.

[2] CAN (Cult Awareness Network) was based in Chicago.  The bankruptcy of 1996 was caused primarily by a judgment which condemned them to pay 5 million $ to a plaintiff who had requested damages for kidnapping committed for deprogramming purpose by a CAN member.

[3] ADFI (Association de Défense de la Famille et de l’Individu). In the 90ies the various French associations called ADFI were united under a national headquarter, the UNADFI (Union Nationale des Associations de Défense de la Famille et de l’Individu) that since then runs them while dealing with the MIVILUDES and managing the appropriations it receives from the government.

[4] The psychiatrist Joseph Jansa and the social worker Enrique Sagues of Pro­-Juventud (now known as AIS, Assessment and Information about Sects) stayed for months in the United States in 1985 to learn the deprogramming techniques from the members of AFF Luis J. West, Lorna and Bill Goldberg. Back in Europe they instructed other people of the future FECRIS on the techniques learned. In the following years other deprogrammers arrived from the United States and worked in several European countries (Spain, Switzerland, Italy) to give a practical demonstration to local the anti-cult groups of the deprogramming techniques on members of “cults”.

oOo

May 29, 2014