Cablegate: Justice Ministry Rejects Registration of Church Of

This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

131704Z Jun 05

UNCLAS MADRID 002273

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PHUM PGOV SP
SUBJECT: JUSTICE MINISTRY REJECTS REGISTRATION OF CHURCH OF
SCIENTOLOGY

1. Charge met on June 6 with Ministry of Justice Under
Secretary Ana Maria Miguel and director of the MOJ's Office

SIPDIS
of Religious Affairs Mercedes Rico Carabias to discuss the
MOJ's May 18 decision to reject the Church of Scientology's
application to register as a religious organization. Charge
noted that the Church of Scientology was legally recognized
in the U.S. and that we were requesting that it be afforded
the same treatment in Spain as any other religious
organization. Miguel and Carabias said that the MOJ had
determined that it could not register the Church of
Scientology because the Spanish Supreme Court had twice
upheld an earlier administrative decision to deny
registration in 1993 and 1994. MOJ acceptance of the Church
of Scientology's new application for registration would in
effect overturn those Supreme Court decisions, in violation
of Spanish legal norms. They proposed that the Church of
Scientology's Spanish attorneys challenge the earlier denials
of registration in the National Court, the Supreme Court, and
the Constitutional Court.

2. Carabias said the Office of Religious Affairs had not
reviewed the substance of the Church of Scientology's
application but, had there been no previous legal
determination barring the Church's application, believed it
would likely have been approved without difficulty. She said
she understood that the Church of Scientology would have
prefered a favorable administrative decision by the Ministry
of Justice, but that there was no recourse other than legal
action. Carabias said her office was only concerned with
whether the organization (church) that filed the 2005
application for registration was the same organization whose
denial of registration had been upheld in 1993 and 1994.
Once the MOJ found both organizations to be one and the same
(same doctrine, organization, and leadership), the Office of
Religious Affairs had no choice but to deny the applications.

3. Carabias and Miguel disputed the Church of Scientology's
contention that a 2001 determination by the Constitutional
Court requiring the MOJ to accept the registration of the
Unification Church (which had also been previously denied the
right to register) created a precedent favorable to the
Church of Scientology's case. They said 2001 Constitutional
Court's finding applied solely to the Unification Church and
did not constitute an instruction to the MOJ to ignore prior
legal decisions against registration applications by other
denominations. Miguel said that the Constitutional Court
would likely find in favor of the Church of Scientology,
though she acknowledged that the legal process could take
several years.

4. Charge pressed Miguel on whether the MOJ had the
discretion to interpret the new application by the Church of
Scientology, particularly in light of the fact that the new
criteria for registration of religious organizations was
substantially different than when the Church of Scientology
made its original application. Miguel said that the MOJ did
not have such discretion and that the Minister of Justice had
no authority to reverse a ruling of the Supreme Court.

5. Charge noted that the rejection of the Church of
Scientology's application for registration would be discussed
in the Embassy's draft of the annual International Religious
Freedom Report. Carabias said that the GOS had great respect
for the IRF and read it closely. She said she hoped that any
discussion of this issue in the IRF would be cast in the
appropriate context - as an administrative decision.
Carabias stressed that the GOS would not interfere with any
of the activities of the Church of Scientology and, while she
understood the Church wanted to register for reasons of
principle, said the MOJ's refusal of its application would
have no tangible effect. For example, registration (or
non-registration) had no bearing on a religious
organization's tax exempt status. Carabias said the main
purpose of registration was as a means for the GOS to filter
out organizations with a primarily commercial rather than
religious character - an issue she insisted did not apply
with respect to the Church of Scientology. She said this
case represented a "legal knot held over from the 1980s and
1990s" and that there could only be a legal, not
administrative solution.

MANZANARES

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