LA SCIENTOLOGIE DÉTRUIT LES FAMILLES

 Témoignage de Valeska Guider (née Valeska Paris)

La scientologie détruit les familles

Je m’appelle Valeska Guider (née Paris). Lorsque j'avais 6 ans, mes parents ont divorcé. Je vivais en Suisse avec ma sœur cadette, Melissa, et mon petit frère Raphaël. Mon père a obtenu la garde et a décidé de rejoindre l’Organisation de la Sea Org en Angleterre à Saint Hill.

Nous nous sommes rendus en Angleterre en septembre 1984. Ma mère est venue avec nous pour nous déposer. Nous nous sommes rendus à la base avec un minibus bleu en mauvais état. Ma mère nous a dit qu'elle allait à la cantine pour prendre un café et nous a quittés sans jamais revenir.

Nous sommes arrivés à la base de Stonelands de la Sea Org. Aucun de nous ne parlait l'anglais et mon père s’est débrouillé au mieux. Nous avons trouvé le chemin de la salle à manger qui avait des trous au plafond. J'ai eu une intoxication alimen- taire qui m’a fait vomir toute la nuit.

Mon père, mon frère, ma sœur et moi avons tous dormi dans le même lit. Notre maman nous manquait et nous étions totalement dépaysés.

Le lendemain, mon père a commencé le programme EPF et nous avons dû rejoindre l'Organisation des Cadets, pour faire des travaux domestiques avec les autres enfants.

Je ne vais pas parler ici de la déconnexion des enfants de leurs parents et autres détails sordides sur l’Org des Cadets, car ma soeur Melissa a déjà rédigé un témoignage sur cette époque.

Durant les deux premières années, nous avions un peu de temps en famille. Je voyais alors mon père 2 heures par jour (ce temps incluait le dîner en commun).

En 1986, le temps accordé pour les réunions de famille a été annulé et plus aucun adulte ne vint à Stonelands pour le dîner. Nous avons depuis ce moment rarement vu notre papa. Il rentrait très tard le soir lorsque nous dormions et nous nous levions pour aller à l'école quand il était encore endormi.

Environ un an après notre arrivée à Stonelands, ma mère est venue nous rendre visite. Elle a vu dans quelles conditions nous vivions et a été horrifiée. Elle a essayé de nous ramener avec elle à Flag (Ndt: la base de scientologie en Floride). Il lui a été répondu que c’était impossible car nous étions des futurs membres de la Sea Org et que c’était out-éthique de nous amener aux USA et qu’elle serait déclarée SP si elle persistait. (Ndt: SP = une personne suppressive, ennemie de la Scientologie) Elle a insisté et a été envoyée en éthique puis menacée à nouveau d’être déclarée SP. Finalement elle a abandonné.

Nous avons visité ma mère pour les vacances d'été et nous avons aimé ça. C'était un monde différent: la nourriture était adéquate et nous avions une chambre chauffée et sans fuite. Nous redoutions de retourner en Angleterre, mais nous adorions notre papa.

En 1992, lorsque j’avais 14 ans, nous sommes tous allés aux États-Unis pour voir ma mère pour les vacances d'été et j'ai décidé de rejoindre la Sea Org à Flag. C’était génial.

La base de Flag était beaucoup mieux que Stonelands et je passais tous les samedis avec elle. Ma mère était superviseur des cas de niveau classe XII est était OT VIII (Ndt: le niveau d’initiation le plus élevé de la secte)

Le suicide d’Albert Jaquier

Mais, le 11 décembre 1995 tout a changé. Ce fut le jour où mon beau-père, Albert, s'est suicidé après une série d'énormes maladresses de l'Eglise. Il a été trouvé mort sur son lit par mon frère qui avait 6 ans à l'époque, (le fils d'Albert et de ma mère).

Albert avait demandé à ma mère de faire connaître son histoire afin qu'elle n’arrive pas à d'autres. Il lui a donné son journal qui comprenait les détails de ce qu'il avait vécu et de ce qu'il voulait faire après sa mort. Ma mère a été bouleversée. Elle est allée à l'Org locale en Suisse et, selon les volontés d'Albert, elle a exigé le remboursement de plusieurs sommes d'argent qu’il avait prétées à des scientologues.

Ceci est parfaitement normal et prévu par les règlements de Ron Hubbard de la Cour des aumôniers. Au lieu de cela, l'Eglise a poursuivi ma mère pour avoir critiqué la scientologie par courrier (black mail) et tenté de la faire mettre en prison. Cela était inutile elle n'avait rien fait de mal.

L'Eglise a poursuivi ma mère avec des recours jusqu’au Tribunal Fédéral suisse et bien entendu la scientologie perdu. Elle s'est ensuite rendue à la télévision et a fourni des preuves sur ce qui s'était passé. Elle était maintenant considérée comme un SP (Ndt: Personne suppressive, ennemie de la scientologie) et les scientologues n'ont toujours pas versé l'argent.

J'étais à Flag quand c'est arrivé et le service des affaires spéciales de Flag (OSA-Flag) s’est servi de moi pour tenter de manipuler ma mère. Bien sûr, ils ne m'ont pas dit la vérité sur ce qui était arrivé. Ils m'ont dit que ma mère était une SP et qu’elle attaquait l'Eglise sans aucune raison.

J'ai reçu l’ordre de rompre toute relation avec ma maman, de me déconnecter d’elle. J'avais 17 ans à l'époque et ce fut assez difficile, car je l'aime vraiment. Mais je l'ai fait car c'était "la chose éthique" à faire.

OSA-Flag a également fait savoir que ma mère était une mauvaise personne c'est la manière de faire de l'Église contre quiconque s'écarte de ses lignes: cette personne est soudainement "totalement mauvaise" et l’a toujours été ! Il suffit de regarder ce qu'ils font maintenant avec un ex-scientologue qui parle.

Le Freewinds

Quand ma mère est revenue de Suisse en septembre 1996, j'ai été envoyée sur le navire de la Scientologie («Freewinds») par David Miscavige pour m’éloigner de ma maman. Je n'ai reçu aucun préavis. J'ai été réveillée une heure avant le départ de mon avion et je n’ai pas eu le temps de prendre mes effets personnels, excepté un petit sac.

On m'a dit que je serais sur le bateau pour 2 semaines: j'ai fini par y rester 12 ans. Je détestais cela et je voulais revenir à Flag, ce qui m’a créé des ennuis et j’ai été enfermée dans la salle des machines jusqu'à ce que j’aie une «cognition». (Ndt: Ce qui signifie qu’elle accepte sa situation et continue à servir la scientologie sans rien dire)

Je devais me présenter au bureau du capitaine qui m'a hurlé que je n'avais pas d'autre choix que de rester sur le bateau. J'ai été malheureuse.

Durant les 6 premiers mois je n'étais pas autorisée à descendre du navire au cas où ma mère serait sur une des îles pour me rencontrer ! J'ai n’ai également pas été autorisée à prendre des vacances hors du navire. Ma famille me manquait terriblement. L'International Security Chef m’a informé que, si je voulais que ma famille puisse me rendre visite sur le navire, la seule solution était de faire le nécessaire auprès d’elle pour qu’elle cesse de critiquer la scientologie.

En 1997, ma sœur est venue sur le navire pour sa lune de miel. La veille de son départ, je suis revenue 30 minutes en retard à mon poste. J'ai alors été conduite au bureau du capitaine; il a crié et m’a retiré de mon poste et mise sur le pont pour 6 mois en me contraignant à rester à bord du navire.

Durant les 8 premières années, je n'ai pas jamais été autorisée à quitter le navire sans escorte au cas où ma mère était sur une des îles. J'ai finalement réussi à changer cela en 2004 en parlant au chef de la sécurité.

Plus le droit de parler à ma soeur

Pour avoir contacté ma mère en 2002, ma sœur a été déclarée ennemie de la scientologie. J'ai été conduite au bureau de la direction (HCO) qui m’a montré l’acte d’accusation (SP déclare) concernant ma sœur et on m’a ordonné de me décon- necter d’elle. J'ai bêtement suivi cet ordre car ne pas me déconnecter était impossible puisqu’elle était une ennemie de la scientologie (une personne «suppressive»).

En 2007, un homme dont le mariage périclitait depuis 7 ans s’est intéressé à moi et nous avons eu le projet d’être ensemble dans le futur. Il était en cours d'obtention d'un divorce. Notre relation a été jugée incorrecte et j’ai été punie en étant affectée à la salle des machines.

Je l’ai vu à quelques reprises et nous nous sommes parlé alors que nous n'étions pas censés le faire. Nous n'avons jamais eu le moindre contact physique et j'ai été accusée par deux directrices (CO CMO et RTC Rep) comme responsable d’une «rupture du mariage» alors que depuis 7 ans il n’avait plus revu sa femme.

Au moment de la promotion des nouveaux livres de scientologie («Les Basics» – une énième réédition des écrits de L. Ron Hubbard), nous n’avions pas le droit de dormir jusqu'à ce que nous ayons fait notre quota de vente. J'étais une employée auditeur du personnel (Staff staff auditor) et comme tous les autres membres d'équipage je devais souvent vendre des livres durant toute la nuit !

Une nuit la femme officier (CO CMO) m'a demandé si j'étais la raison qu’un gars s’était déplacé hors de sa chambre dans un dortoir. Je lui ai juste dit "oui" et que je n'étais pas intéressée à lui parler. Elle m'a alors punie en m’envoyant dans la salle des machines pendant 48 heures d'affilées ! Cela s’est passé après des semaines à essayer de répondre à des quotas fous de ventes de livres avec une moyenne de 3 heures de sommeil par nuit !

À 4 heures du matin je me suis endormie contre une machine. J’ai été secouée 4 heures 1/2 heures plus tard par un ingénieur jusqu'à ce que je me réveille. J'ai ensuite été remise au travail pour un autre jour sans sommeil, puis le jour suivant j’ai été affectée à mon poste d’auditeur. Dans cet état d’épuisement j’étais sensée capable de pouvoir faire correctement l’audition du personnel …

Pas le droit d'appeler ma famille ni de parler à quiconque

Ayant ensuite à nouveau parlé à mon ami, j’ai été retirée de mon poste d’auditeur et postée à plein temps dans la salle des machines. J'ai été mise par ma faute dans une petite pièce avec une caméra qui surveillait mes mouvements. (Ndt: ce sentiment de culpabilité permet de se rendre compte de l’état mental de Valeska à ce moment)

Un garde de sécurité m'escortait partout où j'allais et je devais manger dans la salle des machines. Je n’avais pas le droit de me rendre dans la salle de contrôle parce qu'elle était climatisée. Je n’avais également pas le droit de travailler avec quelqu'un. Ainsi j'étais seule à tout moment.

Tous ces ordres m’avaient été donnés par des supérieurs sans âme et sans humanité. J'étais malheureuse et je voulais sortir.

J'ai commencé à aller en session d’audition sur un programme de sécurité (Ndt: un programme sensé trouver tous les crimes et délits envers la scientologie et ses codes …) L’auditeur de ce programme ne faisait que dormir et se doper entre les séances d’audition.

Je suis restée dans la salle des machines pendant près de trois mois à temps plein. Je détestais cela et je voulais quitter le Freewinds mais je n’avais pas le droit d'appeler ma famille ni de parler à quiconque.

Vers la fin j'ai commencé à faire des «overts» (Ndt: des actions que la scientologie condamne) pour tenter de sortir de là.

Au début décembre 2007 lors d’une audition j’ai gardé une bague à mon doigt pour faire réagir violemment le détecteur de mensonge dans l’espoir de me faire expulser du navire. (Ndt: Pour la scientologie un mouvement rapide de l’aiguille est un «rockslam», Ces mouvements brusques et irréguliers signifient que la personne auditée a une volonté de détruire la scientologie ... Les auditeurs de scientologie savent qu’une bague peut provoquer ce genre d’effet sur la machine et qu’il faut toujours auditer les patients en enlevant leurs bagues).

A ce moment j'ai réussi à appeler mon frère en utilisant une carte téléphonique d’un membre du personnel car la mienne avait été désactivée. Je lui ai parlé pendant 1/2 heure. Je lui ai dit de me rappeler et on a découvert que je l'avais appelé.

J’ai été convoquée à plusieurs reprises par le chef de la sécurité puis pas le directeur des inspections (I & R). Ils m’ont dit que j'étais une «suppressive, une 1,1» (Ndt: Une ennemie de la scientologie, une personne suppressive) et j’ai dû écrire tout ce que j'avais dit à mon frère. Ensuite j’ai été affectée au RPF (Ndt: le RPF est le goulag de la scientologie o les adeptes doivent racheter leurs fautes…) Ils m’ont informée que si je n’acceptais pas de faire le RPF je serais déclarée ennemie de la scientologie.

J'étais censée aller en Europe pour faire le RPF, mais j’ai refusé. On m'a dit que je n'avais pas le choix et qu'ils allaient me déclarer ennemie de la scientologie. Je m’en fichais, j'en avais assez. Je voulais partir tout de suite. Quand je suis allé en session j'ai menti et dit que j'étais suicidaire, parce que j'avais vu assez de gens être expulsés pour cela. (Ndt: la scientologie ne veut pas avoir de suicide sur les bras et visiblement Valeska a eu vent d'affaires similaires au sein de la scientologie)

La même nuit une femme officier (CO CMO) m'a conduite dans la salle à manger et m'a dit que j’avais l’air désemparée et qu'elle savait que j’avais menti au sujet du suicide et a tenté de m’introvertir (Ndt: de me culpabiliser).

Finalement elle m’a dit qu'elle allait m'envoyer en Australie, si elle le pouvait. J'étais contente de sa proposition et le lendemain on m'a dit que je pourrais me rendre en Australie. J’ai été soulagée d’apprendre que j’allais pouvoir descendre du bateau et j’ai décidé que je n’y reviendrais plus jamais.

Une grande délivrance

J'ai quitté le «Freewinds» le 25 décembre 2007. Çà a été l'un des grands moments de délivrance que j'ai jamais connu. Je suis arrivée en Australie et croyez-le ou non j'ai adoré le RPF. Malgré toutes les restrictions: aucun salaire pendant 6 mois et aucune personne à auditer, alors que cela avait été mon poste pendant des années - c'était le paradis par rapport à ce que j'avais vécu ces derniers mois sur le navire.

J'ai terminé le RPF en novembre 2008. J'ai été affectée en Australie et mes deux supérieurs du «Freewinds» n'aimaient pas cela. Après s’être séparé de moi et refusé de me payer ils exigeaient maintenant que je trouve un remplaçant ! Ils ont dit qu'ils allaient m'envoyer en l'Angleterre, puis à Los Angeles, puis ils m’ont menacée de me reconduire au navire et de me mettre dans la salle des machines jusqu'à ce qu’un remplaçant soit trouvé.

La scientologie (CLO ANZO) a trouvé 3 employés pour me remplacer sur le «Freewinds» mais cela n'était jamais assez, ils voulaient encore un auditeur formé (Un «clear», Grade V auditor).

A cette époque durant le programme RPF j’ai rencontré Chris Guider, mon futur mari. Il avait lui aussi été envoyé au RPF (RPF ANZO) quand il a été considéré comme un «risque de sécurité»

Il n’y avait aucune raison pour que je retourne sur le navire pour être victime de leurs mauvais traitements.

Nous en avions assez et nous nous sommes dit que nous allions quitter la scientologie. Finalement nous sommes partis à la fin août 2009.

Nous étions en règle et ils nous ont donné de l'argent "parce que j'allais avoir un bébé" (J'attribue ce traitement à ce qui s'est passé sur l'internet et du fait que je connais un tas d'informations sur le Freewinds et les normes IAS, et Chris sait beaucoup de choses sur David Miscavige, Int & Gold).

Une église qui recommande les ruptures familliales !

Je n'avais pas encore vraiment bien vu la lumière, et je voulais m’occuper de ma sœur et de ma maman qui avaient été «déclarées SP» (Ndt: Une personne suppressive, une ennemie de la scientologie) Etant entrée en communication avec eux j'ai été contactée par Marion Pouw qui m’a informée que j'avais violé la politique de l’Eglise en étant en communication avec ma famille.

Mon frère a également été en communication avec ma mère et ma sœur et il a reçu un ordre de l’’OSA (l’Office des Affaires Spéciales de la Scientologie) de se déconnecter d’elles.

J'ai refusé de me déconnecter de ma sœur et de ma mère.

Mon père et mon frère sont toujours scientologues et sont déconnectés de moi, de mon mari et de mon bébé et cela bien que mon père ressent une extrême colère d'avoir à faire cela.

J'ai écrit à mon père. J'ai aussi écrit à Marion Pouw, qui travaille directement pour David Miscavige, pour tenter de nettoyer les dégâts qu'il a créés.

En dépit de ce que prétend Tommy Davis, le responsable des relations publiques de la scientologie, malgré les arguments de l'église, la déconnection est clairement un règlement de la scientologie qu’elle utilise pour briser des familles.

J’ai écrit ce témoignage car je suis révoltée par les mensonges flagrants que l'Eglise diffuse sans honte ni remords dans les médias.

Valeska Guider

Testimony of Valeska Guider (nee Paris)

When I was 6 years old my parents divorced. I had been living in Switzerland with my younger sister, (Melissa) and baby brother, Raphael. My father ended up with full custody and decided to join the Sea Org in England at Saint Hill. We travelled to England in September 1984, my mother came with us to drop us off. We got onto a blue broken down mini bus to travel to berthing. My mom told us she was going to the canteen to get a coffee. She left and never came back.

We arrived at Stonelands Sea Org berthing. None of us kids spoke English and my father’s was broken at best. We found our way to the dining room that had holes in the ceiling and I got food poisoning and threw up that whole night. My father, brother, sister and I were all put in the same single bed. We missed our mom and were totally homesick. The next day my dad started on the EPF and we were put in the Cadet Org and put on MEST work with the other kids. (This chapter is focused on disconnection, so I am not getting into the sordid details of the Cadet Org here, Melissa’s write up contains some details of this time.)

For the first couple of years we had family time, and would see my dad for 2 hours a day (combined dinner and family time). However in 1986 family time was cancelled and no adults then came to Stonelands for dinner so we barely ever saw our dad after that. He would come home very late at night when we were sleeping and we would get up to go to school when he was sleeping.

After about a year my mother came to Stonelands to visit. She saw how gross the living conditions were and was horrified. She tried to get us back to move with her to the States near Flag. She was told we were future Sea Org members and she was out ethics for trying to get us and that she would be declared an SP if she persisted. She tried several times and was sent to ethics, threatened again with declare and eventually gave up. We visited my mother for the summer holidays and we loved this. It was a different world: proper food and a room with heating and no leaks. We dreaded going back to England but we loved our Dad.

In 1992 when I was 14, we all went to the US to see my Mom for the summer holidays and I decided to join the Sea Org at Flag. It was great. Flag was much better than Stonelands and I would spend every other Saturday with her. My mother is an OT VIII Class XII auditor.

But then, on Dec 11th 1995 everything changed.

That was the day my step father, Albert, committed suicide following a series of gross mishandlings from the Church. He was found dead on his bed by my brother who was 6 years old at the time, (son of Albert and my mother). Albert had asked my mom to make his story known so that it would not happen to anyone else. Albert gave her his diary which included details of what he had been through and what he wanted done following his death. My mother was devastated. She went to the local Org in Switzerland and following Albert’s wishes she demanded money back on his behalf and that the Scientologists he had loaned money to pay it back. This is perfectly normal and covered by LRH in the Chaplains Court policy. Instead, the Church sued my mother for black mail and tried to have her put in jail. This went nowhere as she had done nothing wrong.

The Church went all the way to the Swiss Supreme Court and of course they lost. She then went on TV and provided evidence on what had happened. She was now considered an SP and the Scientologists still have not paid the money back. I was at Flag when this happened and OSA Flag used me to try and “handle” my mother. Of course they did not tell me the truth about what had happened and told me my mom was an SP attacking the Church for no reason. I was ordered to disconnect from my mom. I was 17 at the time and this was pretty hard as I really love her but I did it as this was “the ethical thing to”. OSA Flag also made my mom out to be a villain which is something that the Church does with anyone who steps out of line:  that individual is suddenly “all bad” and always has been. Just look at what they do now with anyone who speaks out.

When my mom came back from Switzerland in September 1996, I was ordered to the Ship by David Miscavige to get me away from my mom. I had no forewarning. I was woken 1 hour before my plane was leaving and not able to take any of my personal belongings with me other than a small bag. I was told that I would be at the ship for 2 weeks: I ended up being there for 12 years. I hated it and wanted to go back to Flag. I got in trouble for this and was put in the engine room until I “had a cognition” . I had to report to the Captains office, where Mike Napier yelled at me that I had no choice but to stay on the Ship. I was miserable. For the first 6 months I was not allowed to step off the Ship in case my mom was on one of the Islands to get me! I was also not allowed to take holidays off the Ship. I missed my family terribly and was informed by the Security Chf International that my only choice was to get my family in good standing to come and visit me on the Ship.

In 1997 my sister came to the Ship for her honeymoon. The day before she left I was 1/2 hour late back on post — I was pulled up to Mike Napier’s office, yelled at, removed from post and put on the decks for 6 months and restricted to the Ship.

For the first 8 years I was not allowed off the Ship without an escort in case my mom was on one of the islands. I finally got this changed in 2004 by talking to the Security Chief.

In 2002 my sister was declared for connecting with my mom. I was pulled into HCO and shown her SP declare and ordered to disconnect from her. I foolishly did as not disconnecting was not an option and was “suppressive”.

In 2007 a man whose marriage had been on the rocks for at least 7 years had an interest in me and was working on getting me interested in him. 8 months later I did and we had comm cycles about being together in the future. He was in progress of getting a divorce. Our actions were incorrect and resulted in me being assigned to the Engine Room. I saw the guy a few times and we talked when we were not supposed to, though we never touched or did anything physical. I was accused by Sue Price ( CO CMO) and Lurie Belotti (RTC Rep) of “breaking up the marriage” even though he had trouble for 7 years before he even met me and I was the 2nd woman he had created something with.

At this point the Basics had been released and we were getting no sleep until we made our booksales quota. I was a Staff Staff Auditor, and me and every other crew member was on booksales, often through the entire nite!

One night Lurie Belotti asked me if I was the reason that this guy had moved out of his room into a dorm. I had no idea what she was going on about and just said “yes” as I was not interested in talking to her. She sent me to the Engine Room for 48 hours straight! This is after weeks of an average of 3 hours sleep a night trying to meet insane booksales quotas. At about 4am I just blacked out against a machine and was found 4 1/2 hours later by an engineer who shook me till I came to. I was then put back to work for another day and night without sleep and then back on post the day after that. And I was expected to audit.

This guy and I spoke again and I got taken off post and put in the Engine Room full time. I was put in this small room by myself with a camera monitoring my movements. A security guard escorted me anywhere I went, I had to eat in the engine room and was not allowed to eat in the control room because it was air conditioned. I was not allowed to work with anyone so I was alone at all times. All as ordered by Sue Price and Lurie Belotti, those soulless husks of humanity. I was miserable and wanted out. I started going in session on a Sec check with an auditor who was getting no sleep and would dope off in the session. I was in the engine room for almost 3 months full time.  I hated it and just wanted to get off the Ship, I was of course not allowed to call my family at all or talk to anyone. Towards the end I started making up overts to just get out of there. One day in early December I wore a ring on my finger and left it there to try and simulate a rockslam as I thought that would get me out of there faster.

In December 2007 I called my brother using another staff members’ cruise card which you need to call off the Ship. Mine had been deactivated. I spoke to him for 1/2 an hour. I told him to call me back and it was discovered I had called him. I was yelled at by the Security Chief and the then Dir I&R and told I was suppressive and 1.1, this went on and on. I then had to write down everything I had told my brother. I was assigned to the RPF and informed if I did not go I would be declared.

I was supposed to be sent to Europe to do the RPF but refused. I was told I had no choice and they were going to declare me an SP. I didn’t care, I had enough. I wanted out right away and it was not happening so when I went in session I lied and said that I was suicidal, because I had seen enough people being kicked out for this. The same night Sue Price pulled me into the dining room and told me I looked terrible, she then said she knew I was lying about the suicide and proceeded to try and introvert me. Eventually she said she would send me to Australia if she could and I was happy about that. I was told the next day that I would be going to Australia and was just relieved to get off the Ship. I decided I would NEVER go back.

I left on Dec 25th which was one of the greatest reliefs I have ever experienced. I arrived to Australia and believe it or not I loved the RPF. Despite all the restrictions, no pay from the Ship for 6 months and no PC folder till after I was done with all the auditing - it was heaven compared to what I had experienced the last months on the Ship. I completed the RPF in Nov 2008. I was posted in Australia and Sue Price and Lurie Belotti did not like this.  After booting me off the Freewinds and not paying me, now they demanded a replacement! They said they were going to send me to England, then to LA, and then threatened to have me escorted back to the Ship and be put in the Engine Room until there was a “replacement”. CLO ANZO gave the Freewinds 3 staff but then that was not good enough. “Auditor’s don’t grow on trees” they said and demanded a Clear Grad V Auditor.

By this time I had a relationship with my current husband (Chris Guider who I had met on the RPF — he too had been sent to the ANZO RPF when he was considered a “security risk” ). There was NO way I was going to go back to the Ship or be trafficked to where they wanted. A lot happened in this period which I won’t cover here. I married Chris — but apparently was supposed to have “OK” from Sue Price first! Like she has any say in who I marry and when. This was a big flap and I was now in trouble yet again and was supposed to be sent back to the RPF. We had had had enough and said we were leaving.  We finally routed out in late Aug 2009. We were in good standing and were given money “because I was going to have a baby” (I attribute this treatment to what has been happening on the internet and the fact that I know a lot of information about the Freewinds and the IAS, and Chris knows a lot about DM, Int and Gold).

I had not yet really fully seen the light, and I wanted to handle my sister and mom’s declare. So I got in communication with them. We were then called by Marion Pouw who informed me I was violating Church policy by being in comm with my family. My brother also got in comm with my mom and sister and OSA ordered him to disconnect. I refused to disconnect from my sister and mother so now my father and brother have both disconnected from me, my husband and my baby boy who will be born in the next 3 -4 weeks, though my dad expresses extreme upset about having to do this.

I have written comms from my dad.

I also have written comms from Marion Pouw, who works directly for David Miscavige trying to clean up the messes he has created with lies. In spite of whatever Tommy Davis says, or how the church tries to spin it, she clearly states that disconnection is the on policy thing to do.

I am writing this as I am sick of the blatant lies that the Church is telling the media with no shame or remorse.

Valeska Guider

 Scientologist Horror Story "Destruction of My Family"

Testimony of Melissa Paris

I usually do not start a thread about ex's stories.

But this story should be read by all.

It is way up there on the rage scale. Just horrific stuff.

Yes it is long, but worth the read. If ever there was a time to say the ol'

THIS IS WHY, it is now.

Melissa Paris has just told her story on the Independents website.

Her step father was Albert Jaquier who donated 6 million to the cult.

It is with great honor that I add her to the list!

The Destruction of My Family

Sunday, 13 June 2010 20:50

Following are some highlights of my life growing up in the Sea Org and with a Scientology family. My hope is to bring the type of activity that I experienced to light so that others are not exposed to similar abuse. The experience affected me in an extremely negative way that I am still dealing with to this day.

I was born in Geneva, Switzerland and I lived there with my parents, older sister and younger brother. When I was 4 years old my parents, both Scientologists, divorced and my father got full custody of my sister Valeska, brother Raphael and me. He decided to join the Sea Org in West Sussex, UK so we moved there and lived in the “housing” provided. My mom came with us at first but she was told that she couldn’t stay. She told my sister and me that she was going out to get coffee and she simply never came back.

We spent the first night, all 4 of us, on a twin sized mattress that had bugs on it and smelled like urine. I remember that I was completely homesick, sad and crying because I missed my mom. None of us spoke English which made it so much worse.

The first physical abuse I suffered was at the hands of a woman named Pam Hubbard Beale, no relation to L. Ron Hubbard. I was put in the ballroom of Stonelands (one of the Scientology properties located near East Grinstead) and she closed all the doors and locked all the windows. She then had me run around trying to find a way out until I had exhausted myself. When I finally gave up she proceeded to beat me on the butt. I had just turned 5. This intended to show us kids who was boss.

The people supposedly taking care of us didn’t regard us as children; we were adults in little kid’s bodies, fully aware of the consequences of our actions, and fully responsible, and blameworthy for any result. Any mistake was regarded as a premeditated and deliberate act of destruction.

We were in the Cadet Org, a mini Sea Org org. We all had posts and were assigned all sorts of manual labor: scrubbing walls, floors, cleaning the toilets, rooms, sweeping etc… not stuff that kids would normally do.

Our cook, John Harvey, would refuse to feed us unless we filled out the sheets saying how good the food was and if we weren’t there at the designated time we definitely didn’t eat. I guarantee you there were no fat kids in the cadet org. We were all pretty much skin and bones cause we never had enough to eat. One of the clearest memories of my childhood is us kids banding together to steal food. We would put the smallest kids through the pantry or kitchen window and steal whatever food we could get. I was the kid that was normally on lookout. I had no problem putting myself in harm’s way if it meant protecting my older sister who was always one of the gang leaders. I’d stand by the kitchen door and knock till John would come to the door. When he opened it I’d squirt him with a water gun and then try and dodge his fists as he tried to punch me. I would then run through the house screaming because he always came after me and his punches hurt. I was normally faster than him and could get through to the other side of the house before he could catch me.

When I first came to the Cadet Org we had a governor that watched over the smaller kids. His name was Bo, though I can’t remember his last name now. He sexually molested some of us, but when it was reported they just moved him to a different post. No charges were ever filed against him because in Scientology all justice is handled internally. Who cares if kids are getting molested, beaten or raped; it’s still all handled internally.

After Bo we got Dominique and Heather. Dominique was by far the worst governess we had. I think I became the one kid she hated more than anyone and she decided she was going to break me no matter what. The first time she punched me in the face was when I was 10 years old. I’d been hit before by our other “caregivers” but never hard enough to knock me out. She punched me right in the face. The force of the blow sent me slamming into the wall behind me and I was out. This, like all other incidents was covered up. Bruises and other evidence of abuse were supposedly due to “fighting” between children.

I had a mouth on me as a kid and hated Dominique. I made it a point to show her and Heather that they would never break me. The worst beating they ever gave me was when I was 10 or 11. I was playing upstairs and one of the boys, Oliver Morgan, was making noise in the shower room. Dominique thought it was me and yelled up the stairs at me to be quiet. My response, not thought out at all, was “make me shut up.” As soon as I said it, I knew I’d made a terrible mistake. Dominique came running up the side stairs and Heather came up the main stairs and I was trapped upstairs in between them. I ran down the hallway to try and make it to the 3rd floor so I could escape via the roof. I didn’t make it. I curled up into a ball as they proceeded to punch and kick me. After that they dragged me through the whole house by my hair and then Dominique threw me down the main stairs head first. I landed in the middle on my shoulder and could feel it dislocate, worst pain ever. I hit the bottom headfirst and slammed my knee into the brick floor. I was barely conscious but they still dragged me by my hair to the side door and threw me outside. They then went and locked all the doors to the house so I couldn’t get in. I was in my pajamas and had no shoes or socks and it was the middle of winter. I still to this day get major panic attacks if I get too cold. I also had to slam my own shoulder back in against a wall. To this day it still pops in and out.

This incident was the ONLY time my dad ever said anything to Dominique about the physical abuse we experienced. I complained to him many times but he did nothing.

My dad was in a car accident when I was 12. One of the people in the car died. One of the staff, John Cronin, thought it would be funny to come and tell me that it was my dad who had died. I was devastated and yet they didn’t tell me the truth several hours. I WAS 12 YEARS OLD!!!!!

That was the last straw for me. I called my Swiss grandma and begged her to book me a ticket to Florida so that I could go live with some friends. I left England.

The above is just a very small snippet of some of the atrocities that were committed in the Cadet Org. I can’t recall the number of times I was hit, knocked unconscious and we wrote reports and yet nothing was ever done about it. We were just future Sea Org members that needed to be molded into “good” SO members which meant breaking us down into robots. I was unbreakable but I paid a price to maintain my integrity.

A couple of years later, when I was 14, I went on a holiday to England with my sister, who was 16 (and in the Sea Org at Flag) and my brother who was 12. We went to see my step mom, Angela. While I was there I decided to join the Sea Org in England thinking that this was the right thing to do. Things were very off policy and I could write a whole article about this but won’t at this time. I worked 16 hours a day and did not attend school. I was in the Sea Org till the age of 18 when I left, never to return.

When I was 15 my mother was declared. This is another story in itself, but the short version is that my step father, Albert Jaquier, donated 6 million dollars to the Church and was owed millions of dollars from different Scientologists who he had loaned money to in order for them to buy church services. He was in bad health and was not making money due to his condition. He tried for years through the Church to get the money owed him by these Scientologists returned. Nothing happened, despite him writing to David Miscavige for help and getting no response and becoming the target and sent to ethics. He was not allowed to use the court system to get his money back as he was told this was "off policy." In the end he was so distraught and miserable that he committed suicide, leaving behind a 6 year old boy. This was a man who was a self made millionaire and he died in total despair and sadness with not a penny to his name. He asked my mother before he died to help get the scene sorted out with the Church and to make his story known. There are many more details, but I am not writing a book at this point so I am only covering the basics. As I said earlier my mother went to Switzerland, to the local org and asked to have a Chaplains Court to get the money returned. Of course, they took NO responsibility for their crimes but instead sued my mother and tried to get her jailed for "blackmail" because she provided evidence to the state concerning her husband’s death. The case went all the way to the Swiss Supreme Court and of course, the church lost as she had done nothing wrong.

The result of this was that my sister (17 at the time), brother (13 at the time) and me were ORDERED to disconnect from our mother or we would be declared SP's and kicked out of the Church and we would also lose our father and step mother. Not knowing what else to do and being convinced that this was the right thing to do we all disconnected from my mother who we all loved very much. As a note my father was living in the States and divorced from my step mom, my brother and I were living in the UK with our step mother but no actual parent and my sister was living in Florida in the Sea Org by herself with no parent or legal guardian and had been since the age of 14.

When I left the Sea Org I came to the US and moved in with my father and brother Raphael. My father’s wife and I had some disagreements and they forced me out. I lived in a very dangerous part of Chicago by myself in an apartment. This was scary for me and I was not enjoying life. I was invited to Scotland to see some friends and when it was time to go back to Chicago I could not bear the thought of returning to the life I had led. I called my Swiss Grandma, (on my mothers side) and begged her to let me come and live with her. My father got the news that I had done this and called me and let me know that he was disconnecting from me because I was in communication with my grandma who was connected to my "SP" mother. I was devastated by this, this was my father and I was 18 years old! I love my father and could not believe that he would do this.

I went to Switzerland and stayed with my grandma for a few weeks, I then flew to Florida and went and lived with my mother. I got a job and met my future husband, Joe. I was living with my mother for a few months before I moved into my own place with Joe. He had a baby boy who I have raised for the past 10 years. I got a college degree and continued working. I was visited by OSA Flag and ordered to disconnect from my mother or I would be declared an SP and would lose my father, brother, sister and step mom. They tried to get me to come into Flag but I did not want to and did not want to disconnect from my own mother.

I did not hear from the Church for a while and was living my life, working hard and getting top grades in my education. My husband and I had a baby girl. When my baby was one month old I got an SP declare in my mail box from the Church of Scientology declaring me for being connected with my mother! No Comm Ev was done. This resulted in my father, brother and sister all disconnecting from me, not because they wanted to but because they had to. Over the years my brother has had communication with me on the Internet and then cut the line because he had to or he would get in trouble with the Church and be declared.

In Sept 2009 I got a phone call from my sister who had left the Sea Org and wanted to get my situation sorted out so that our family could be put back together, I was in agreement with this and requested a Comm Ev. This took months and months with nothing being done even though a Comm Ev is supposed to take 48 hours. My sister stayed in comm with me and my brother also got in comm with me. At Christmas I went to see my brother in LA and we spent the day together, this was great and he expressed how much he had missed me, he also asked to call my mother and was very happy to talk to her and let her know that he had a photo in his wallet of her and my half brother and had had it there all of these past 15 years that he had not been allowed to talk to my mom.

I went home and then the shit hit the fan! My brother called Angela, my step mom growing up, and told her what had happened. She is in the Sea Org in England and told him that this was off policy and quoted the reference from OEC volume 1. Raphael went and spoke to CMO terminals in LA who told him that my idea of being in comm with my sister was "disapproved!" He was then sent to see OSA Int in LA who ORDERED him to disconnect from me and take me off Facebook within 24 hours or he would never get his Bridge and would be declared an SP. So my brother, not knowing what is really right and being scared, took me off Facebook and has not spoken to me since.

My sister refused to disconnect from me. This resulted in my father and brother both disconnecting from her. By the way my sister is pregnant, very nice to have that happen when you are pregnant!!!! My sister has email from our dad where he states he will never be able to see his granddaughter (my daughter who by the way does not understand why she can't see her granddad and is quite hurt by this) and now he probably wont be able to meet his grandson (my sister’s boy).

I recently lost about 50 friends on Facebook, these were all "Scientologists" in the "Church." One of my friends who was not willing to disconnect from me and whom I wont mention by name sent me an email telling me that the MAA in England had sent a broad email to all Scientologists in the UK letting them know that I had been redeclared an SP and that they all needed to disconnect from me. Of course I got no copy of the Comm Ev since the Church is infested with lies and has to cover themselves at all costs and take no responsibility for the lives that they have ruined with their insane off-policy actions and robotic followings of a crazy self-appointed dictator, David Miscavige.

I have kept quiet for the past 10 years but after seeing the outright lies that the Church has told over the past 6 months including that there is no such thing as disconnection, I decided to speak out and tell a short version of my story.

I hope this helps get the truth out. Although, I have to say, it is quite obvious who is lying. It would be a lot easier for the Church to just come clean and take responsibility for their crimes and change their ways and their corrupt, criminal cowardly leader who has twisted any sense of policy and turned the Church into a suppressive extortionist organization where no one has a right to an opinion and where lives are ruined to keep his crimes covered up.

But the truth will come out in the end, just like it has in our entire history.

Written by Melissa Paris

Source:http://www.scientology-cult.com/melissa-paris/373-the-destruction-of-my-family.html

For those of you who may not have heard the story of her step father Albert Jaquier in the past or read his diary, (he was an OT7) go here and be horrified Operation Clambake present: Diary of a dying Scientologist OT7:

http://www.xenu.net/archive/photoalbum/jaquier.html

Melissa Paris, Valeska's Sister, And Her Own Ordeal in

Scientology's Cadet and Sea Orgs: Forced to Marry at 16

The Village Voice / December 1, 2011

By Tony Ortega

Valeska (left) and Melissa Paris, with Valeska's son Declan

In December of 1996, Melissa Paris was 16 years old, and had been married for a few months to a man she says she was forced to wed. An unpleasant match, the marriage ended when Melissa left him -- and Scientology's hardcore and controlling Sea Org -- two years later.

But that was in the future. In the months after her wedding, she was in a unique position, and she knew it. Her husband, Cyril Helnwein, who was himself a teenaged Sea Org member of about 18, was from a wealthy family. The son of an internationally famous artist (more on that later), Cyril had means. So, when they had returned, after the wedding, to grueling weeks of menial, unpaid labor that she had already endured for two years as an underaged Sea Org member at L. Ron Hubbard's legendary former home in England, Saint Hill Manor, she asked her rich young husband to grant her a wish.

Fly me to a ship. The Freewinds. For our honeymoon.

Melissa asked this, not really out of a romantic notion, but knowing it might be her only chance to see her sister, Valeska, who had just been put aboard the ship against her will.

And so, in December 1996, the Paris sisters were briefly reunited after not seeing or communicating with each other for two years.

It would be another 13 years before they saw each other again.

Last night, I spoke at length with Melissa Paris on the phone. She now lives in Houston with her 10-year-old daughter and a boyfriend she's been seeing for a couple of years. She works as a waitress and bartender, and in January, she's going back to school. On Christmas day she will turn 32. She owns her own home, and as she says, "Life is very good."

Over the last three days, her sister Valeska has become famous on three continents. Sunday night, Australia's ABC network, on its Lateline program, aired a story by Steve Cannane, who explained that in 1996, Valeska, then only 18, was taken -- against her will, she says -- to serve as a Sea Org staffer aboard the Freewinds, and would remain there, a virtual prisoner, for 12 years. We followed up Cannane's story with our own lengthy interview of Valeska, which filled in more about her family history, her time on the Freewinds, and how she finally managed to get off the ship and start a family with former Australian rugby star Chris Guider.

But Valeska urged me to talk to Melissa, telling me that her story alone was not a complete picture.

If Valeska was held against her will on a ship plying the Caribbean, Melissa was a prisoner on land, going four years at Hubbard's famous estate in the UK doing menial, punishing labor, and over the course of those four years, almost all of it as a child, she was paid a total of about $40.

Not $40 a week. $40 in four years, as an underaged teenager working extremely long hours and getting little sleep.

And yet, throughout her ordeal, while her father and brother "disconnected" from her, after her schooling had ended when she was 12 years old and she had run to places like Los Angeles to work as a 14-year-old nanny, knowing no one, she kept one goal in front of her: she would, someday, reunite with her older sister.

Here's how that journey unfolded. As we mentioned Tuesday, Valeska and her sister Melissa were born in Geneva, Switzerland to a man named Jean-Francois Paris and a woman named Ariane Jackson, both Scientologists. In 1983, the couple split and Paris took his daughters, and their younger brother, Raphael, to England, where he signed up for Scientology's Sea Org, the ascetic outfit that requires its workers to sign billion-year contracts with a promise to come back lifetime after lifetime for endless hours and pay of about $50 a week.

While Jean-Francois put on his naval Sea Org outfit, his three children were assigned to something called the Cadet Org, a sort of mini-Sea Org for children, to toughen them up with menial chores and poor living conditions at a rundown manor named Stonelands.

(Janet Reitman has a brief descrition of Claire Headley's experience in the Cadet Org at Stonelands in her new book, Inside Scientology.)

Valeska was 6. Melissa was 4. Raphael had just turned 2. Melissa lived at Stonelands, and was in the Cadet Org, for eight years, until she was 12.

I asked her what a typical day was like, in the summer, when she was 7 or 8 years old.

"We would get up at about 7 o'clock. We'd muster -- we'd all stand in a line, according to divisions. Then we had to breakfast on time, because if you missed it, you didn't eat," she says. "Then some would go to Saint Hill and do their jobs. Others would stay at Stonelands and had to clean the house. There wasn't much free time, maybe an hour or two. When I was younger there had been something called Family Time, an hour or two in the evening when you saw your parents."

Once they took away Family Time, when she was about 6 or 7, her day didn't include seeing her father at all.

"We did study. We studied Scientology. And that was pretty much our day. And weekends weren't any different. Yeah, we didn't live like kids," she says. In an Internet post, she has written at length about governesses who regularly hit the children, and how kids ganged up on each other.

"Did my sister tell you that we had no toilet paper 90 percent of the time in the Cadet Org?" Valeska asked me last night after I had finished my interview with Melissa. "We either had to use pages from books in the library to wipe ourselves or our hands and wipe it on the wall. I know it's gross but it's true. The toilet had shit all over the wall."

"The governesses sucked," Melissa told me. "Probably the meaner they were, that's how they picked them." Years later, Melissa says she was told that Scientology's Cadet Org was disbanded in particular because of reports of the conditions at Stonelands.

Melissa says if she tended to get more bruised than other kids, it was because she would talk back. "I was pretty mouthy," she says, and you get a sense, talking to her, that the hellraiser in her is never far from the surface.

Meanwhile, her father was largely absent, she says. "My father said something to Dominique [one of the worst of the governesses], and that's only when she threw me down the stairs."

With parents not around, it was difficult to get any sympathy. "You're so in Scientology, you really can't go against them. You're adults in smaller bodies," she says, referring to Scientology's belief that we have all lived countless lives, and that if we wear a child's body in a new lifetime, our thetan, or soul, is ancient. In that scenario, they believe, it makes little sense to treat a youngster as anything but a stunted adult.

During the school year, the Paris children went to a private Scientology school, Greenfields. "But even there, we were Stonelands kids. Dirty. We had lice. We got made fun of quite a bit," Melissa says.

Their father, Jean-Francois Paris, was on a Sea Org salary of pennies an hour. So it was her mother, Ariane, and her new husband, Albert Jaquier, who paid for the private school. Jaquier had risen from a junkyard worker to a self-made millionaire, and gave away much of his money to Scientology. And in 1989, when her mother and Jaquier ended their marriage, the private schooling stopped.

"We went to public school after that, in East Grinstead. That sucked," she says. "The church did not have a good reputation in town. And kids would wait for us after school. They'd try to fight us."

I asked Melissa how she finally got out of the Cadet Org in 1992, when she was 12 years old. "I called my grandma in France and got her to book me a ticket to Florida. I called a friend I had made there, Emily Jones, and I asked if I could go live with them."

She was in Clearwater, Florida, Scientology's spiritual headquarters, for two years. Then, at only 14, she went to Los Angeles and became a nanny. Nine months later, she gave that up and returned to England.

Then, in December 1994, she joined the Sea Org. She was only 15 years old. (Her sister, Valeska, had joined even earler, at 14. One girl in her area was a Sea Org member at only 10, Melissa says.) That same month she joined the Sea Org, her former stefpather, Albert Jaquier, died of a heart condition.

I asked her why, at that point, she signed a billion-year contract and promised to work so hard for Scientology.

"They showed me a policy by Hubbard that said the world was coming to an end by 2000. So we had six years to 'clear the planet'," she says. "And I had no family at that point. My dad is an idiot, and he was in Florida. We didn't know anything else. We were born into it. We didn't have any friends outside Scientology. Those were 'wogs'" she says, using the offensive British slang term for dark-skinned people that Hubbard appropriated for his jargon to mean any non-Scientologist. "We didn't have anybody."

She immediately hated the Sea Org. And so, at first, when she heard the news about her mother, she considered it a hopeful sign.

After the death of her former husband, Melissa's mother had tried to get recompense from the church and then had sued and was countersued by Scientology. She then went live on French television to denounce the church.

"I was excited. I thought it was going to be a way for me to get out. The Sea Org was horrible."

But Melissa didn't get away, at least not yet. She was told to disconnect from her mother, who was now considered an apostate, or "suppressive person." Melissa, meanwhile, kept laboring for the church.

"I was in the Sea Org from 1994 to 1998. During that entire time, I was paid about 40 dollars. And I am not making that up," she says. Until December 25, 1997, she was a minor during that entire period, working for no pay.

"We were fed beans and rice. And we got no sleep. When [church leader] David Miscavige came over for an IAS event in 1998, I was assigned MEST work, and I went five days without sleep. We would catch some sleep on the bus from Walsh Manor to Saint Hill," she says, referring to another run down estate where Sea Org members were housed, and the 18th century country house were Scientology in the UK is headquartered. In preparation for the event, she worked like mad. "I was building stuff. Building the stage. Putting up tents. Cleaning. Making stuff." (MEST was Hubbard's acronym for matter, energy, space, and time, and referred to work in the real, physical universe -- usually manual labor -- as opposed to work in the spiritual realm. Melissa also refers to the IAS -- the International Association of Scientologists, a sort of booster club that church members are constantly encouraged to give large sums to.)

I asked her what the lavish event itself was like. "I didn't get to go to the event. I was in trouble." Why? "Because I wanted to leave," she says.

"You got treated like absolute crap by everyone who was senior to you. I can't tell you how many times I got yelled at by someone an inch from my face. And there's nothing you could do. You're demoralized. You're not a person," she says.

At 16, she had started to date a young man named Cyril Helnweing, who was a couple of years older. Then she found herself in the EPF, and her superiors got even more demanding of her.

The Estates Project Force is a sort of boot camp for Sea Org members, and it is something a Sea Org worker can be assigned to do again if they are not performing up to standards.

"I sucked. I don't conform or follow retarded orders," she says.

But she had few alternatives. She was separated from her family, who had their own Sea Org assignments to fulfill. Melissa says she was given an ultimatum: marry Cyril Helnwein, or get kicked out of the Sea Org.

"I was told that the only way I would be able to stay would be if I married him. I'd actually broken up with him right before that and...a high level executive told me that I needed to get back together with him ASAP. I was threatened with being dropped off in the middle of East Grinstead."

Why, I asked, were executives pushing her into the match ?

"The guy's father was pretty famous, and he wanted to marry me."

Gottfried Helnwein

Cyril's father is Gottfried Helnwein, a well-known Viennese-born fine artist who these days splits his time between Ireland and Los Angeles. Known for his early work in hyper-realist watercolors, some of his images are quite familiar to rock fans, who will recognize the album covers for Scorpion and Rammstein that use his art.

Over his career, Helnwein has avoided questions about his status as a Scientologist, but databases show that he's taken courses since at least 1978, and judging by plaques he's received, he's been a major donor.

Despite his wealth, however, his son and daughter-in-law, as Sea Org members, lived a spartan lifestyle.

"At the beginning, we lived in a room with bunk beds," Melissa says.

A few months after their wedding in the summer of 1996, Melissa asked Cyril to take her on a Caribbean honeymoon.

"Like I said, his family was really wealthy. I asked him if we could go to the Freewinds for our honeymoon, so I could see my sister." In December, they went, and she turned 17 during their week on board.

"The ship was in the 'ABC' islands," she says, referring to the three islands, Aruba, Bonaire, and Curaçao, that the ship tends to visit, even to this day.

She knew her trip would be a complete surprise to her sister, who had been moved to the Freewinds in September of that year -- against her will, Valeska says. She believes that church leader David Miscavige had her moved there to make sure she disconnected from her mother and was unable even to communicate with her. ("They took our passports, too," Melissa says, vouching for what Valeska has alleged, that every visitor on the ship gives up his or her passport when they arrive.)

On the ship, Valeska worked as a waitress for her first six years, and was never able to leave the vessel without an escort. And even though her sister had flown so far to see her, during the week Melissa and Cyril were on board, they rarely got to see Valeska.

"She would come at her dinner time. And during the week she got one half-day off." Just one half day, I asked? "Yeah, half a day."

Valeska, 19, and her sister Melissa, 17, said goodbye at the end of the week. They wouldn't see each other again until 2009.

Melissa and Cyril returned to England, but Melissa says she was miserable in her marriage, and in her work. A little more than a year after her trip to the Freewinds, she began planning to leave. She told her superiors that she wanted out, and she convinced her father, who lived in Chicago, to fly her out in May, 1998. She was finally done with the Sea Org.

"I didn't tell Cyril I was leaving," she says. She just left him without saying a word.

She hated Chicago, however, and by January 1999, she was living in Scotland.

In March, she got a strange call from her father. He told her he was disconnecting from her, even though she hadn't yet left Scientology itself.

"Something went off in my head, and I said, 'You know, I'm done'," Melissa says.

She called her Swiss (maternal) grandmother, and went all the way to Switzerland by bus. From her grandmother's house, she called her mother, who was in Florida.

"I hadn't talked to her in years. And my father was trying to scare me into coming back. But I was done. I went to Florida and met up with my mom. I got a job, in telemarketing. I got an apartment. I met my next husband, and got pregnant with Jade," she says.

I asked her what it was like to reunite with her mother, who Scientology had so forcefully told her to cut all ties with three years earlier.

"It was pretty amazing. It was good," she says. "I bought my first house when I was 20. The Office of Special Affairs [Scientology's intelligence and covert operations wing] showed up at my door. I wasn't declared [a suppressive person] yet. They wanted information about my mom. They were watching my house.

"I told them I wasn't a Scientologist anymore. But they told me I still had to disconnect from my mother. I said no. So they declared me. It was 2001," she says.

Her father and brother, who are both still in Scientology, remain disconnected from both of the Paris sisters. Her father, Jean-Francois Paris, works in art in Chicago. Melissa and Valeska both tell me that their younger brother Raphael runs the human resources desk for a Scientology attorney in Los Angeles. When I asked them if it was Kendrick Moxon, they both said yes. I have sent a message to Raphael, hoping that he'll talk to me.

"I haven't spoken to my dad since I was 19," she says. "My daughter Jade is now 10, and she has never seen her grandfather."

In 2004, Melissa moved to Texas. Although her schooling in East Grinstead had stopped when she was 12 years old, she still managed to do well on entrance tests and enrolled at College of the Mainland.

She owns her own home and, she says, after she arrived in Texas, "I just kind of lived."

And then, in 2009, the phone rang.

"I got a call from my sister," Melissa says, still sounding like she can hardly believe it happened. Valeska had finally managed to get away from the Freewinds. "That was probably one of the best moments of my life," Melissa says. In 2007, Valeska had been moved to the RPF in Australia, a kind of prison detail for Scientologists. (The church insists that it's voluntary and members go there for spiritual rejuvenation. Every ex-Scientologist I've talked to describes the RPF as anything but voluntary, a hellish sentence of hard labor and humiliation.)

In the RPF, Valeska managed to meet Chris Guider, the former rugby player. After they both "graduated" from the RPF, they got married and Valeska got pregnant with their son, Declan. Pregnancies for Sea Org women are not allowed, and many former female Sea Org members talk of forced abortions being common. But Valeska and Guider were through with Scientology, and routed out.

"I always knew that my sister would get out. She was smart. My father, no. My brother, no," Melissa says. "I figured Valeska would get pregnant and say no to an abortion, and that's pretty much what happened."

Looking back, she says now that she can hardly believe how conditioned she was to think a certain way because of her upbringing in the church.

"I remember watching people picketing outside Saint Hill, and thinking these people were crazy. We were so brainwashed," she says.

She has now left Scientology, and is not interested in the independent movement of former church members who still find L. Ron Hubbard's ideas useful.

"I'm not an indie. I think it's all a lot of shit," she says.

She and her sister are close again, and their mother is doing well with her own acupuncture clinic in Florida.

When I asked her for one last statement or thought, she said, "Only this, I am proud of my sister."

Scientology Kids: Fully Indoctrinated by 18

By Tony Ortega Tue., Dec. 20 2011

http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/2011/12/scientology_kid.php

[Texte integral]

On Sunday, we published a disturbing new document which was produced by Scientology recruiters in Australia. It purports to be the testimony of an 18-year-old named Denny Chang, who extols the virtues of Scientology's most hardcore contingent, the Sea Org, and urges other young church members to join.

After talking with experienced former Sea Org members, it's now clear that young Chang, judging by his own words, probably started his career in the elite troop at only 14 or 15 years of age. And now at 18, when his former schoolmates might be heading off to college, Chang is convinced that Scientology provides an answer for everything: "I started to realize that Scientology is really the only way out," he writes.

The mailer Chang appears on was not one of Scientology's advertisements to the general public. It was an e-mail flier sent out to church members -- the Voice regularly obtains such mailers from various Scientology organizations around the US and Australia, and we publish three of them each Sunday morning.

This one was a recruiting notice for the Sea Org, Scientology's elite corps, whose members are required to sign billion-year contracts and serve the church, lifetime after lifetime.

In his testimonial, Chang relates that as he becomes an adult, he's already an experienced Sea Org officer...

I'm 18 years old; I'm already an experienced Professional Course Supervisor and a permanent Class IV auditor. And I'm a Commodore's Messenger Organization staff member.

As we've been reporting lately, recruiting to the Sea Org for very young church members - some as young as ten years old - can be very intense.

Melissa Paris joined the Sea Org at only 15 years of age, and a year later was forced into a marriage she didn't want, she told us in a lengthy interview recently. And if Scientology itself often justifies the way it treats Sea Org members by comparing it to the Jesuits or some other ascetic religious order, the experience of Melissa, her sister Valeska, and many other former Sea Org members we've talked to makes it sound much more like a cheap force of manual labor than anything spiritual. Valeska joined the Sea Org at only 14, and she became suddenly famous last month when her incredible story -- that she was held against her will on Scientology's private cruise ship, the Freewinds, from 1996 to 2007 -- became public. She urged us also to talk to her younger sister Melissa, who labored for the Sea Org in the UK as a teenager.

Melissa told us that she had worked for four years doing manual labor at L. Ron Hubbard's estate in England -- more than half of it while still a child, under 18 -- for a total of about $40.

I asked Melissa to read Denny Chang's testimony and estimate for me how much time it would take for him to reach his current level of experience.

"Years," she responded. "Pro supervisor is 6 months to a year. Class IV auditor is easily a year and that's studying every day -- he said that he did it on his own time. Probably longer. I'd say he's been in since 14-15 years old if not younger."

I also reached out to another woman who joined the Sea Org very young, Ramana Dienes-Browning, and who knew Valeska Paris on the Freewinds. In her own lengthy interview, Ramana told us that she first visited the ship with her mother, and while her mother was taking classes nearby, Ramana was subject to intense recruiting by older Sea Org members. She relented, and joined the Sea Org at only 15 years of age.

"The pressure was so intense. And you have to also remember, I'd been raised to be in awe of Sea Org members, to almost fear them. These were L. Ron Hubbard's messengers," she told us in that interview.

I asked Ramana to give me an estimate of how long Denny Chang has been laboring for the Sea Org.

I would say at least two to three years, possibly closer to four. I cannot see him getting from Pro Metering to having completed his Class IV Internship in under this time, specially since he says he was studying outside of post time. This means two and a half hours per day of study. There are loads of variables but this would be my best estimation. This would mean he joined when he was 15 or 16 and possibly younger.

She added that Denny's enthusiastic testimony was actually "so sad."

I would like to hear from our Australian readers, particularly ex-church members. Does anyone know Denny's family? For Ramana and the Paris sisters, it was extremely difficult to resist Sea Org recruiting when they had grown up in the church, and had known nothing else as Scientology kids. Is that the case in the Chang family?

As we wind down this year -- and next week should be very fun with awards we have to give out -- it is still important to recognize that the stories we've been hearing lately from Valeska and Melissa Paris, from Ramana Dienes-Browning, and from so many others who say they were forced into marriages, forced into abortions, and worked like slave labor while still in their teens, are not stories from the distant past. Scientology still very much wants your impressionable child to do its work at pennies on the hour and with utter dedication to an illusory goal -- the "clearing" of the planet.