Russian Police Raid Moscow Scientology Center

March 29, 2017

Russian police have launched a raid at a center belonging to the Church of Scientology in the northwestern Moscow region.

Officials have yet to announce why the Losino-Petrovsky Center for Dianetics and Scientology was targeted by authorities, the Interfax news agency reported Wednesday.

The Church of Scientology has faced repeated legal difficulties in Russia. The Scientology Church of Moscow was disbanded in June 2016 after a court found that the group had failed to meet requirements for operating as a recognized religious organization.

Scientology is a belief system created by American science-fiction author L. Ron Hubbard in 1954.

Believers are encouraged to dedicate themselves fully to the church, which has been condemned by some as a cult. Scientologists believe in reincarnation, as well as in the ability to access memories from their “past lives.”

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