If someone has the time to translate this article:
Les Témoins de Jéhovah avaient tu le viol d'un enfant
Le Parisien, , 22 mai 2006 par Frédéric Naizot
http://www.leparisien.fr/
[Texte intégral]
Assises/Sannois
Les pratiques sectaires des Témoins de Jéhovah dévoilées en cour d'assises. Le procès qui s'ouvre aujourd'hui à Pontoise va donner un coup de projecteur sur une « Eglise » qui agit en marge des institutions, dans le secret, jusqu'à dissimuler pendant treize ans aux yeux de la justice le viol présumé d'une enfant de 11 ans. Cest la justice interne de la secte* qui avait traité le dossier, excluant un an le « fautif», membre de la Salle du royaume d'Argenteuil. Celte procédure parallèle sera abordée lors des deux jours du procès.
Il a fallu que la jeune victime porte plainte à l'âge adulte, en 2001, pour que le dossier éclate enfin et finisse par conduire Joël G_ 35 ans, devant la cour d'assises. Les Témoins de Jéhovah n'ont pas été poursuivis dans cette affaire, au ternie des investigations menées par les gendarmes : la non-dénonciation du crime a été prescrite, les faits remontant à 1989.
Constitution d'un « comité Judiciaire »
Cétait lors d'une tournée classique des immeubles pour les membres de la secte. Accompagné de Joël G-, Laura fait du porte-à-porte à Sannois dans le cadre d'une « mission d'évangélîsation ». En fin de journée, il avait emmené l'enfant chez lui et l'aurait violée. La victime l'avait raconté à sa mère le soir même. Mais ses parents, comme l'Eglise, cacheront la vérité à la justice. Ils mettent l'auteur entre les mains des Anciens de la communauté qui vont prendre en main le dossier, constituant un « comité judiciaire », qui interrogera Laura. Ses parents, très impliqués dans la secte — son père était l'un des dirigeants —, garderont aussi le silence. Pour eux, seuls les Témoins de Jéhovah devaient juger l'auteur des faits. Joël G. est finalement placé en garde à vue en avril 2002. Son explication : l'enfant s'était montrée entreprenante, il n'avait pas su résister, évoquant « une morphologie avancée ». Sur plusieurs années, l'enquête allait mener les gendarmes à Argenteuil, où ils purent établir l'existence du « comité judiciaire », en auditionnant ses membres. Malheureusement, aucun procès-verbal des auditions n'a pu être retrouvé lors de la perquisition effectuée en janvier 2003. Seule découverte, les fiches d'exclusion et de réintégration. Les investigations seront poussées jusqu'à Louviers (Eure), le siège national des Témoins de Jéhovah, sans plus de résultat, en mars 2005. Le bureau des affaires religieuses indiquant que les PV sont détruits peu après leur arrivée.
Selon les Témoins de Jéhovah, ce n'est qu'à partir de 1994 et la création de ce bureau que les ministres du culte sont obligés de prendre en charge les dénonciations à la justice de faits graves, au cas où celles-ci ne seraient pas faites par les parents. Une ligne de conduite répétée vendredi par le siège national : « La première priorité du ministre du culte est de protéger l'enfant, puis de saisir les autorités. Les Témoins de Jéhovah n'ont jamais demandé de cacher des faits de cette gravité. Les ministres du culte ont toujours été amenés à coopérer avec les autorités judiciaires. »
* Les Témoins de Jéhovah ont été mentionnés en France parmi tes mouvements sectaires par la commission d'enquête parlementaire sur les sectes de 1995. Le rapport classe les Témoins de Jéhovah parmi les " mouvements apocalyptiques".
« Je n'ai jamais été déclarée comme victime »
LAURA*, 27 ans, partie civile
- Quand avez-vous décidé de porter plainte ?
- Laura. Cest à l'adolescence, en consultant des psychologues, que j'ai commencé à y songer. - - Pendant des années j'y ai pensé. J'ai aussi toujours occulté ce qui s'était passé. Ce n'est pas boa II faut crever l'abcès. Je me suis lancée toute seule. Une façon de m'avouer que cela m'était bien arrivé. Dans les témoins de Jéhovah, je n'ai jamais été déclarée comme ayant été victime d'un viol.
- Vous en voulez à vos parents de n'avoir pas porté plainte ?
- Bien sûr. Mais pas au point de porter plainte contre eux. Mon père était alors l'un des responsables du groupe d'Argenteuil. L'affaire, on n'en parie jamais. Le procès va nous permettre de nous exprimer les uns avec les autres.
- La justice interne ?
- Lorsque l'on est Témoin de Jéhovah, on ne ressent pas d'injustice à être traitée par la justice interne. Nous sommes tellement conditionnés. Le châtiment maximum, c'est l'exclusion. Rien ne peut arriver de pire. Il faut savoir que les Témoins de jéhovah fonctionnent sur la délation. On est invités à dénoncer ceux qui ne font pas ce qu'il faut. Par contre, on ne dénonce jamais à l'extérieur.
- Est-ce une secte ?
- J'ai eu du mal à l'admettre. J'ai vraiment quitté les Témoins de Téhovah à l'âge de 17 ou 18 ans. Même si je n'étais déjà plus pratiquante
à 100 %, j'étais vraiment conditionnée. Ils sont les gentils. Le monde autour, ce sont les méchants. On met du temps à en sortir vraiment. Cest la vie dans le péché, la crainte de l'apocalypse réservée aux méchants. Je m'en suis tout à fait rendue compte un jour. Une amie fait une thèse sur les sectes et souhaitait m'interroger. Après l'entretien, nous avons relu les notes et je me suis rendue compte que je n'avais jamais prononcé le mot de secte. Je faisais tous les détours possibles. Aujourd'hui, j'ai plein de choses à rattraper. Je n'avais pas de contacts à l'extérieur. Pas de colonies de vacances, pas d'anniversaires, pas de Noël. J'ai été impatiente. Maintenant, je me dis que j'ai toute la vie devant moi. J'arrive à me dire que la fin du monde n'est pas pour maintenant.
Fr.N.
• Le prénom a été changé
So it is the judicial case in France where the internal policy of JW is put to light. To see the other case go to:
http://www.tj-encyclopedie.org/Liste_des_affaires_de_p%C3%A9dophilie
Bye
Charles
Another cover-up of child abuse in France and another lies to media
by chasson 10 Replies latest watchtower child-abuse
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chasson
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blondie
The best I can do.
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juni
If someone has the time to relocates this article: < br>
THIS IS THE END OF A WORD FOR WORD TRANSLATION. KIND OF HARD TO FOLLOW, BUT THE BEST I COULD DO. - JuniIP: PQLNSSeaZJUN6uqY -
greendawn
From what I read I understand that a JW took an underage girl to his house, after preaching with her in a neighbourhood, and there he raped her back in 1989. She told her mother the same day and her mother told the elders but they never informed the police. So now they have to explain this to the court.
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juni
Trying to clean this up. Sorry for the double post. What happened to my Edit button? help!!!!
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greendawn
Juni you have to click on the topic title above your post and then edit towards the bottom to prepare it for deleting. However some time after making the post (is it 20 minutes?) our edit facility for it doesn't work, but the mods can edit it out.
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valkyrie
TRANSLATION of Chasson's originally posted article (by Valkyrie):
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Assises/Sannois Jehovah’s Witnesses hushed up the rape of a childThe cultish practices of Jehovah’s Witnesses exposed in criminal court. The trial that opens today in Pointoise will give a wide-angle look at a “Church” which operates on the margin of institutions, in secrecy, to the point of concealing from the gaze of justice for thirteen years the alleged rape of an eleven year-old child. It was the internal justice of the cult(FN1) that handled the matter, excluding the guilty member of the Argenteuil congregation (Kingdom Hall). This parallel procedure will be considered during the 2 days of trial.It was necessary for the young victim to press charges as an adult, in 2001, in order for the matter to erupt and finally bring Joel G_ (35 years old) before the criminal court. The Jehovah’s Witnesses have not been charged in this affair, demeaning investigations conducted by the police into the prescribed concealment of a crime, whose facts go back to 1989.
Forming a “Judicial committee”
It was during a routine territory coverage session for members of the sect. Accompanied by Joel G__, Laura was engaged in door-to-door activity in Sannois in the course of an “evangelical mission.” At the end of the day, he took the child to his home and raped her. The victim told her mother about that same evening. But her parents, like the Church, hid the truth from justice (/from the authorities). They commended the wrongdoer to the hands of the community Elders to consider the matter, who formed a “judicial committee” to question Laura. Her parents, very involved in the sect – her father was one of its directors, held their silence. For them, only Jehovah’s Witnesses should judge the wrongdoer. Joel G. was finally placed in police custody in April 2002. His explanation: the child was forward (i.e., actively seductive), and he was unable to resist, given her “advanced physical development.” Over several years, the inquiry led the police to , where they were able to establish the existence of the “judicial committee,” by interrogating its members. Unfortunately, they were unable to find a written transcript of the committee meetings during a search executed in January 2003. The only discovery was that of the disfellowshipping and reinstatement records. The investigations were carried through to Louviers (Eure), the national headquarters of the Jehovah’s Witnesses, without further result, in March 2005. The department of religious affairs indicated that transcripts are destroyed shortly after their arrival.
According to Jehovah’s Witnesses, it has only been since 1994 and the creation of this department that religious ministers have been obligated to report serious crimes to the authorities, if this is not done by the parents. A policy that was reiterated on Friday by the national headquarters: “The first priority of its ministers is to protect the child, then to involve the authorities. Jehovah’s Witnesses have never asked to conceal facts of this gravity. Jehovah’s Witness ministers have always been encouraged to cooperate with the judicial authorities.”
“I was never treated as a victim”
LAURA(FN2), 27 years old, civil party to the complaint
- When did you decide to press charges?
- Laura. As an adolescent, while consulting psychologists, I began to dream about it. I thought about it for years. I, also, always concealed what had happened. It is not … [original reprint unclear: “boa II”] … to burst the abscess. I embarked [translator’s note: upon this course of filing a criminal complaint] on my own. A way of confirming to myself that this had really happened to me. With the Jehovah’s Witnesses, it was never acknowledged that I had been a rape victim.
- Do you blame [/resent] your parents for not having filed criminal charges?
- Of course. But not to the point of filing a charge against them. At that time, my father was also one of those in a position of authority in the congregation. That is something that is not taken lightly. The trial will allow us to express ourselves to each other.
- What of the internal justice?
- When one is a Jehovah’s Witness, one does not feel it is an injustice to be dealt with by internal justice [the judicial committee]. We are conditioned that way. The maximum punishment is disfellowshipping. That is the worse that can happen. You have to know that Jehovah’s Witnesses function through denunciation. We are invited to denounce those who do not do what they are supposed to. On the other hand, we never denounce to those outside.
- Is it a cult?
- I had difficulty in admitting that. I definitively left the Jehovah’s Witnesses at the age of 17 or 18 years. Even though, by then, I was not 100 percent active, I was really conditioned. They are the nice ones. The world around, those are the evil ones. It takes a lot of time to really leave. There is the sinful way of life, the fear of Armageddon reserved for evil people. One day, I suddenly realized. A friend was writing a thesis on cults and wanted to question me. After the interview, we re-read the notes and I realized that I had never uttered the world “cult.” I made every possible detour. Today, I have a lot to catch up on. I had no contacts with the outside world. No holiday camps, no birthdays, no Christmas. I have been impatient. Now, I tell myself that I have my whole life ahead of me. I’m able to tell myself that the end of the world is not for now.
FN1: Jehovah’s Witnesses were mentioned in amongst cult movements by the 1995 parliamentary commission for inquiry into cults. The report classifies Jehovah’s Witnesses as one of the “apocalyptic movements.”
FN2: Forename has been changed.
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chasson
Thanks Juni and Valkyrie for your translation !!!
Bye
Charles -
Jourles
Joel G. was finally placed in police custody in April 2002. His explanation: the child was forward (i.e., actively seductive), and he was unable to resist, given her “advanced physical development.”
It seems he knows the routine. Blame the girl for being forward and seductive and he gets off scott free in the JC. (did he at first? It didn't specify)
castrate the muther******
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juni
You're welcome for the help Chasson. I tried my best, but it came out a mess.
To further Jourles comment, in the WT org. a lot of blame is put on the women and they go lightly on the men for the most part. I saw this happen in our cong. I was involved in one situation w/a bunch of sisters. Ten to be exact. I was the only one to step forward and guess what?? We sisters were asked why we weren't mature enough to stave off this former elder's advances. He got deleted from being a pioneer (he didn't want to continue anyway), but he was still allowed to comment at mtgs. He would incorporate in his answers denunciation of us sisters. I sat there and seethed. Brought it to the attention of the elder body and they wouldn't do anything about it as this brother had been a Witness for many years. He never once apologized.
But you know what?? He had to live with it. I wrote him 2 letters about the situation looking for him to say something. He never answered - the chicken s***. The stress on his wife was horrible and I tried to calm her, but our relationship was never the same. She since has died and now he is in poor health. I understand from a friend that he came on to his new daughter in law and his son and his new wife moved across country to get away from him.
Juni