MOSCOW (AP) -- Police seized boxes of documents from the Scientology movement and questioned its leaders today, in the latest government action against religious groups in Russia.

 Tax police and other security services spent 16 hours confiscating materials from the Scientologists' Moscow center on Thursday, and they returned today to question the leaders, the group said.

 Authorities said they were investigating possible tax evasion and other financial irregularities.

 Russian authorities have moved against a number of religious organizations following the passage of a 1997 law that placed widespread restrictions on ``nontraditional'' faiths.

 The dominant Russian Orthodox Church strongly supports the law and often speaks out against religious groups that have been arriving in Russia since the Soviet breakup in 1991.

 The Scientologists said the investigation against them was politically motivated.

 ``Cruelty was in the air during this visit (by the tax police), which has reminded us that Russia has not yet acquired the right of freedom -- freedom to think and act in accordance with the convictions of conscience,'' Alexei Danchenkov, a Scientologist spokesman, said in a statement.

 Some 200 students a week attend classes at the Scientologists' center in Moscow, said Danchenkov.

 Human rights groups say the religious law is reminiscent of anti-religion drives during the Soviet era, when the Communists decreed an official policy of atheism and many religious groups had to operate underground.

                        Other current religious cases include:

 -- In St. Petersburg, more than 40 teachers and children at a Christian school have been holed up inside their building since Tuesday, under the eye of police in combat fatigues outside. The city gave the Society of Open Christianity a rent-free lease on the aging building in 1991, but are now demanding it back. The group wants a new site for their school.

 -- Moscow prosecutors are seeking to ban the Jehovah's Witnesses in an ongoing trial. Prosecutors have accused the group of ``aggressive proselytism'' and describe it as a cult that destroys families, fosters hatred and threatens lives.

 -- In the eastern city of Magadan, authorities have sought for months to close the Word of Life Pentecostalist Church. A prosecutor has accused church leaders of hypnotizing people, while tax police and security services have conducted raids and interrogations. Earlier this month, 400 church members applied for asylum in the United States.

  © Copyright 1999 The Associated Press

RAID IN MOSCOW AGAINST THE CHURCH OF SCIENTOLOGY
Human Rights Without Frontiers, 26 February 1999

HRWF (26.02.1999) Website http://www.hrwf.net - Early in the morning of Thursday 25 February, the Russian authorities initiated a sweeping raid on the Church of Scientology in Moscow.

Thirty-five police from the Moscow Revenue Police Agency and Internal Secret Service Police (FSB) launched a raid on two locations of the Church of Scientology in Moscow. In the afternoon the raid was still continuing with the police in the process of confiscating private religious confessional files as well as administrative files.

The stated allegations for this raid are operating a commercial enterprise without a license, non-payment of taxes, practising medicine without a license and suspicion of criminal wrongdoing. Information gathered so far shows that the raid is based on complaints from a "former student" about whom the Scientology [office] says he does not exist in any file or records  of any of their offices in Russia.

About the accusations, the Church of Scientology is circulating a statement by email which sums up its position as follows: - Their offices have Russian government documents giving them religious status and therefore are exempt from licensing as it is not a business. - The Church has an approved standard program to help church members rid their bodies of drug residues by using vitamins.  - All taxes through January 1999 have been paid and are current. - The so-called criminal wrongdoing allegation is not further delineated.

- from Human Rights Without Frontiers

MOSCOW SCIENTOLOGY CENTER RAIDED
by Anna Dolgov
.c The Associated Press, 26 February 1999

MOSCOW (AP) -- Police and secret service agents raided the Moscow Scientology center for a second day Friday, seizing files and trying to confiscate reporters' tapes of interviews with movement leaders.

Tax police and other security services spent 16 hours collecting boxes of documents and sealing rooms at the group's headquarters on Thursday and returned Friday to look for more materials and question members.

It was the second raid on the group's Moscow office in less than a year.

Vladimir Bizenkov, an investigator in the prosecutor's office, said the agents came back because they didn't find anything during the raid in April, and would continue searches until incriminating evidence was found.

On Thursday, police refused to let anyone out of the building until late at night, and allowed people to leave only after taking down their names and passport numbers, the group's members said.

``What is going on here is some kind of a nightmare,'' said Vladimir Turov, a student at the Scientology center.

The tax police said they were investigating possible tax evasion and other financial irregularities, but the Scientologists said authorities had other motives.

``All raids and searches are carried out for a single purpose: to frighten the staffers and force them to renounce their beliefs,'' said Alexei Danchenkov, a spokesman for the group.

Many Scientologists and human rights activists blame the crackdown on the Russian Orthodox Church, which jealously guards its position in Russia. Authorities have moved against a number of religious organizations following the passage of a 1997 law that placed widespread restrictions on ``nontraditional'' faiths.

The group's members also said that the participation of Russia's Federal Security Service -- the main successor to the KGB -- in the raids indicated that something beyond an investigation into tax evasion was afoot.

Several agents grabbed reporters, twisting their arms and trying to confiscate film and tape recordings of conversations with the Scientologists.

Bizenkov also demanded that reporters sign a pledge not to divulge ``sensitive information related to the investigation.'' He backed down after a threat to call an attorney.

As in most European countries, Scientology does not have tax-free status as a religious group in Russia, but it is registered as a public movement.

The Scientology center in Moscow is formally called the Humanitarian Hubbard Center, named after the founder of Scientology, L. Ron Hubbard. It holds regular classes, attracting about 200 students each week, according to Danchenkov.

The group charges between $11 and $22 for a month of classes, a basis for the investigation into possible tax evasion.

AP-NY-02-26-99 1521EST

SCIENTOLOGISTS BECOME NEW TARGET FOR POLICE SCRUTINY.
 RFE/RL 26 February 1999

Police raided the Moscow headquarters of the Church of Scientology on 25 February. Reuters quoted an anonymous police officer as saying he and his colleagues were looking for everything from tax records to weapons. In a public statement, Church officials condemned the raid as an attack on freedom of religion. According to Interfax, municipal police, Federal Security Service and tax police officers participated in raids on four Church offices in Moscow. JAC

MOSCOW POLICE RAID CHURCH OF SCIENTOLOGY
by Adam Tanner, Reuters, 25 February 1999

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Dozens of police raided at least two offices of the Los Angeles-based Church of Scientology in Moscow for an inspection Thursday that lasted from early morning until late night, officials said.

``We're conducting a comprehensive inspection,'' said a police officer on the scene overseeing the raid. ``There is no repression going on here.''

Church officials said police, some armed with automatic weapons and bulletproof vests, arrived at about 9 a.m. at the three-story wing of a factory that the group rents out as its Moscow headquarters.

Police officials were continuing the raid 12 hours later when a Reuters correspondent was allowed to visit the building with police escort. A second building nearby was also subject to a raid, police and church officials said.

In a statement, the Scientology Church of Moscow described the raids as an attack on freedom of religion.

``Actions by the state to repress religious freedom do not allow Russia to move forward. On the contrary, Russia is moving backwards to totalitarianism,'' the statement said.

Russia has adopted a controversial law limiting the activities of ``non- traditional'' faiths, although it was not immediately clear whether Thursday's raids were connected with implementation of that law.

Moscow prosecutors are presently seeking to ban the Jehovah's Witnesses group in a court case which is being closely monitored by human rights activists.

The overseeing police officer on the scene of Thursday's raid on the Scientology headquarters, who declined to be named, said officers were checking everything from tax records to weapons.

``Any organization can be inspected, any factory, any enterprise,'' he said. ``Public organizations are in a special situation. Many don't pay taxes and get around customs.''

``But I think everything will be in order here; there's nothing criminal around here.''

Interfax news agency said municipal police, State Security Service and tax police forces were all involved in raids on four Scientology offices in Moscow.

Anna Kornayeva, an instructor at the church headquarters, said that about 60 people worked in the battered facility of aging linoleum floors and walls covered with art propagating the teaching of American science fiction writer and Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard.

One photograph showed Kornayeva and other Russians with actor John Travolta, a prominent member of the faith.

She said the center made its money by charging for classes and had as many as 300 students.

Scientology has been the subject of controversy in some countries, most prominently in Germany where officials have attempted to curb its activities.

The web site of the Scientology Church lists dozens of offices across Russia.