Oct. 27 (Bloomberg) -- The French branch of the Church of Scientology was convicted of organized fraud by a Paris court.

The Scientology Celebrity Center and a related bookshop in Paris were fined a total of 650,000 euros ($967,890) today. The court didn’t restrict the church’s activities in France and didn’t order jail time for directors.

“No one recruited or sold for their own benefit, it was all for the organization,” said Judge Sophie-Helene Chateau, reading the decision. “It is more expedient to punish with a large fine and by alerting future members with widespread publication of the ruling.”

The case stemmed from complaints by two women that the church harassed them to buy products including vitamins and enroll in classes. An investigating judge sent the group to trial against the recommendations of the Paris prosecutor, who had advised dropping the case.

“France is in the dark ages on the subject of religious freedoms,” said Tommy Davis, a spokesman for the Church of Scientology International, in a telephone interview from New York. The ruling “is in violation with the European Declaration of Human Rights and the French constitution.” The group will appeal, he said.

“The court did give credit to the association for the evolution of its practices,” Patrick Maisonneuve, a lawyer for the church, said. “It can continue practicing.”

Suspended Sentence

Alain Rosenberg, the church’s leader in France, was given a two-year suspended jail sentence and a 30,000-euro fine. The court said the sentence was suspended in part because of “efforts by the association to change its practices.”

In 2002, a French court fined the church for violating data protection rules while rejecting a fraud claim.

There are about 8,000 Scientology-affiliated groups around the world and the number of followers has doubled in the last five years, Davis said. There are “tens of thousands” of members in France, he said.

Today’s decision is the “first time in France Scientology has been condemned as a legal entity,” said Olivier Morice, a lawyer for the complainants. “The organization now knows it is being watched.”

The French government revised its laws just before the trial, removing the risk of expulsion from France if the church was found guilty of fraud.

Earlier this month, the European Court of Human Rights fined Russia 20,000 euros for violating the right to freedom of religion by refusing to register a local Church of Scientology.

Last year, a German court authorized monitoring of the group, saying it “wants to establish a society which disregards central constitutional guarantees like human dignity and equality.”

Scientology was founded in 1952 by science fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard, and the first church was set up in Los Angeles in 1954, according to the group’s Web site.

To contact the reporters on this story: Gregory Viscusi in Paris at gviscusi@bloomberg.net; Heather Smith in Paris at hsmith26@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: October 27, 2009 11:53 EDT