A German federal court has begun hearing a case brought by the southern state of Baden-Wuerttemberg to decide the legality of restrictions on the Scientology movement.

Baden-Wuerttemberg has asked the court to uphold a local judicialruling withholding religious status from the Church.

Correspondents say the German authorities have described the Church of Scientology's recruitment methods as brainwashing.

The government said in June that the intelligence services were monitoring the group to see if it was breaching the principles of liberal democracy.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service
 

Back to top | BBC News Home | BBC Homepage