In Béarn, a sect suspected of abuse of children – Le Figaro

VIDEOS – Ten responsible for the “Twelve Tribes communities” community were in custody Tuesday night view near Pau (Pyrénées-Atlantiques) in the castle where members of the sect live. Investigators suspect abuse of children “who know nothing about the outside world.”

For Sus, a small town in the Pyrenees-Atlantiques, lives a strange community. For over thirty years in this village of some 400 souls, family groups – 120 people, including fifty children – live in the mansion Navarrenx in near autarky. “They apply the precepts of the Bible literally” described in Le Figaro Georges Fenech, former President of the Interministerial Mission of Vigilance and Combat against Sectarian Abuses (MIVILUDES) which, in 2006, could enter the gates of this area. “Men wear chignons, women in long dresses and long hair. A bit like the Amish “in North America, living away from modern society. This community called “Tabitha’s Place” or “Apostolic College” or “Twelve Tribes” is considered a doomsday sect from a 1995 report of the parliamentary commission of inquiry on sects. “The members of this community, very rigorous, believe that the end of the world approaches,” says Georges Fenech, MP Republicans Rhone.

Abused children

For more than a year, “Tabitha’s Place” is within the scope of a judicial investigation in response to information provided by a former member. Investigators are interested in living conditions of miners “are educated and participate in community economic activity,” said the prosecutor of Pau, Jean-Christophe Muller, during a press conference Tuesday.

“Minors who are not in school, know nothing about the outside world. They have no free development, and are prone to personality disorders, “says Fenech which also refers to” care defects. ” Within the cult, “physical punishment are regulated and graduated” with shots of wicker rod or rule on different body parts described Miviludes. To justify this violence, proponents cite a verse from the Bible: “Foolishness is bound in the heart of children; stick chastises them depart. “In everyday life, the lives of these children is very tough. They are “up at 6 am and are taught all morning. In the afternoon, they work with their parents. They do not have the right to play, toys being the devil’s work, “explains Miviludes.

Huge police operation

This is the end “extensive and thorough verifications”, including the ramifications of the sect in Spain and Germany, a vast police operation was launched in the night of Monday to Tuesday against the castle belonging to the community. The operation involved some 200 police, a helicopter, the Criminal Research Institute and coroners. A similar operation was conducted in parallel in the Perpignan area where members of the sect also work. Tuesday evening, ten people, “men and women community leaders” were in custody, including nine in Pau and Perpignan, said the prosecutor of Pau.

Several minor present in the community were heard and examined by doctors. Four of them, brothers and sisters of the same family aged 18 months to 13 years, were placed with social services of the County Council after the discovery of “traces of recent corporal punishment”, which are part of “fashion education “in this community, said the prosecutor Jean-Christophe Muller. Members of the “Twelve Tribes communities” that operate in Sus, agricultural land and sell fruit and vegetables, are also suspected of clandestine work, of benefit fraud, tax fraud laundering.

The sect already covered by justice

This is not the first time that this community is in the viewfinder of justice. It has already been the subject of convictions, particularly after the death in April 1997 of a 19 month old child who had been deprived of food and care. His parents were sentenced in October 2001 to twelve years in prison and ten years of deprivation of civil and family rights by the Assize Court of Appeal of High Pyrenees. In March 2002, nineteen of its members had been condemned by the Pau Court of Appeal for “evasion of legal obligations of the parents”, including school enrollment and vaccination of children.

(With agencies)