Sectarian abuses: abandonment of care, psychological influence… what is contained in this repressive bill which aims to protect victims ?

Les dérives sectaires sont dans le viseurs des élus. DR/CAPTURE D'ECRAN YOUTUBE

This Tuesday, February 13, 2024 and until tomorrow, the bill aimed at preventing sectarian abuses will be examined in plenary session at the National Assembly. Return to the main articles of the text. 

Prevent abuse, protect victims, repress abuses… the bill on sectarian abuses born in 2022 from an alarming report from the Miviludes will take place this Tuesday in plenary session at the National Assembly, reports Le Monde. 

After a brief passage in the Senate, which deleted several articles, the text returned to the first chamber of Parliament and the articles refused by the senators were finally reintroduced. We take stock of what's left. 

Endangerment

Without doubt the central point of the text, and also one of the most controversial. The article on the creation of an offense which punishes the "provocation to abandonment or abstention of care" was not viewed with much confidence by the Council of State. The latter estimated that the "proportionality" and the "necessity" of the text were not "proven". He judged that the laws on failure to assist a person in danger or endangering the lives of others could be sufficient. 

Also read: "The end of his life was terrible" : conspiracy, sectarian excesses… when beliefs endanger health

In the report of the Miviludes, Sonia Backès, then in charge of the issue, nevertheless sounded the alarm: "By questioning science and the credibility of health authorities, these speeches endanger public health ."

The Council of State also feared that this new offense would harm freedom of expression. For example, for comments made on YouTube regarding advice on non-medical or supposedly medical care: where would the limit be between the freedom to formulate them and the incentive to abstain from care ?  

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Punishing excesses

Another key measure of the project: the fact that psychological or physical subjugation may constitute an aggravating circumstance. This is the first article of the text. The Senate had considered that the offense "abuse of weakness", once again, was sufficient. But the Assembly's Law Committee took the decision to reintroduce the article in its initial version. 

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As is the case for the consumption of alcohol, drugs, or the fact that a victim is a minor… this measure would allow for more punishment severely "murder, acts of torture and barbarity, violence and fraud" if the victim is under the influence, the nerve center of the abuses sectarian. 

As a reminder, in 2021, the Miviludes recorded 4,000 reports for sectarian excesses. Encouragement to abandon care, dropping out of school, mistreatment, sexual abuse, fraud, harassment, risky changes in diet… are all dangers represented by sects and their gurus.