{"id":147997,"date":"2024-02-15T19:50:15","date_gmt":"2024-02-15T19:50:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/?p=147997"},"modified":"2024-02-15T19:52:42","modified_gmt":"2024-02-15T19:52:42","slug":"iglesia-tabernaculo-internacional-argentinian-court-chastises-protex-for-fabricating-victims","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/en\/iglesia-tabernaculo-internacional-argentinian-court-chastises-protex-for-fabricating-victims\/","title":{"rendered":"Iglesia Tabern\u00e1culo Internacional: Argentinian Court Chastises PROTEX for Fabricating Victims"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Massimo Introvigne<\/em><\/p>\n

The defendants were absolved and the judge recommended to investigate the \u201cscandalous\u201d abuses of the anti-trafficking agencies and psychologists<\/strong><\/p>\n

There are horror movies and then there are \u201chorror cults.\u201d In the incredible case of the Buenos Aires Yoga School<\/a> (BAYS) the expression \u201csecta del horror<\/em>\u201d was liberally used by the media. But it seems that in Argentina it is now a general category: an Evangelical church called Iglesia Tabern\u00e1culo Internacional (ITI) was also called \u201csecta del horror<\/em>\u201d by the media.<\/p>\n

What the cases of the BAYS, the ITI, and C\u00f3mo vivir por fe<\/em> (How to Live by Faith), the Argentinian affiliate of the Australian movement Jesus Christians, have in common is the key role of a special prosecutorial office called PROTEX (Procuradur\u00eda para el Combate de la Trata y Explotaci\u00f3n de Personas, Office of the Procurator for Combating the Trafficking and Exploitation of Persons). PROTEX raids with great fanfare and the presence of the media groups it accuses of being \u201ccults<\/em>\u201d practicing \u201ccoercive persuasion<\/em>\u201d or \u201cbrainwashing<\/em>\u201d and \u201ctrafficking<\/em>\u201d their members, arrests their leaders, and \u201cliberates<\/em>\u201d the \u201cvictims<\/em>\u201d\u2014who unanimously deny being victims.<\/p>\n

\"\"
ITI Jerusalem<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

While the BAYS case is still pending<\/a>, the Jesus Christians were found not guilty of trafficking or any other crimes on November 28, 2022, by the Federal Criminal and Correctional Court of S\u00e1enz Pe\u00f1a, with an order severely criticizing PROTEX.<\/p>\n

Even more severe for PROTEX, the other prosecutors, and the anti-cult \u201cexpert<\/em>\u201d psychologists who see \u201ccults<\/em>\u201d and \u201ctrafficking<\/em>\u201d everywhere is the decision rendered on February 1, 2024, by the Court of Paran\u00e1 in the case of the ITI.<\/p>\n

On September 1 and 2, 2022, a farm operated by ITI in El Redom\u00f3n, in the Deparment of Concordia, and several private homes were raided at the instigation of PROTEX. The pastors of ITI, Sergio Gabriel Ziegler and his wife M\u00f3nica Viviana Mancinelli, were arrested together with two co-workers and later committed to trial, together with other six leaders of the movement who had not been arrested. It was announced that twelve \u201cvictims<\/em>\u201d who had been \u201cimprisoned<\/em>\u201d in the El Redom\u00f3n community, called ITI Jerusalem, by \u201cfalse pastors<\/em>\u201d and compelled to work without salary, had been \u201cliberated<\/em>.\u201d As one newspaper reported, \u201cThe event had an enormous media repercussion and some Buenos Aires media called the ITI Jerusalem community \u2018the cult of horror\u2019<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

As it often occurs in similar cases, all started with the complaint of the father of a female member, who called the anti-human-trafficking hotline complaining that his daughter had been \u201cbrainwashed<\/em>\u201d and trafficked. Later (but after the raid) the mother of a male member also called the hotline. The PROTEX interviewed the complainant, quickly concluded that the ITI was just another \u201ccoercive organization<\/em>\u201d involved in human trafficking, and passed the case to the local prosecutors, instigating the raids.<\/p>\n

At trial, however, not only the prosecutors\u2019 case collapsed completely, but the legitimacy of the whole anti-trafficking campaign against \u201ccults<\/em>\u201d was severely criticized. The court recommended not to use the term \u201csecta<\/em>,\u201d the Spanish equivalent of \u201ccult<\/em>,\u201d noting that \u201cThe term \u2018New Religious Movements\u2019 or \u2018NRM\u2019 is now preferred by specialists to replace the term \u2018cult\u2019. The advantage of this new expression is that it does not carry the negative connotations of the previous one, but is ideologically neutral<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"
The court decision<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The decision notes that the Argentinian Constitution<\/em> guarantees the freedom of embracing unconventional beliefs and alternative lifestyles, so that \u201cdiverse life choices have been developed and tolerated throughout past and present history, such as the \u2018Discalced Carmelites\u2019 (cloistered nuns), the \u2018Hippie\u2019 communities of the 1960s, or the current \u2018Mennonite\u2019 communities that lead a simple life<\/em>.\u201d The references to the Discalced Carmelites is interesting, as they have also been accused by Argentina\u2019s main anti-cultist Pablo Salum, who collaborates with PROTEX in various cases, of being a \u201ccoercive organization\u2013cult<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

The court also mentioned Argentinian case law stating that it is perfectly legitimate for both secular and religious non-profit organizations to carry out their activities through non-salaried volunteer work. The decision found that the work at ITI Jerusalem \u201cwas unpaid volunteer work legally protected by the legislation in force and the prevailing case law. There was nothing sinful, hidden, criminal or, in short, reproachable in its activities and in the actions of its directors.<\/em>\u201d The court said that this conclusion was \u201creinforced<\/em>\u201d by ITI\u2019s cooperation with REMAR, an international Evangelical charity that cooperates with various European governments.<\/p>\n

According to the decision, \u201cREMAR is a non-profit NGO, which has a number of people dedicated entirely to humanitarian aid, most of whom have first been helped to get out of precarious situations and who decide to help others who are in emergency situations<\/em>.\u201d The court noted that the Argentinian Supreme Court decided in 2018 that volunteer work for REMAR is legally protected. However, in July 2023 PROTEX raided 38 centers of REMAR, always in search of elusive evidence of human trafficking.<\/p>\n

In the case of the ITI, the court found an \u201cabsolute absence of evidence<\/em>\u201d of human trafficking. Worse, it found that the alleged \u201cvictims<\/em>\u201d were terrorized during and after the raid and submitted to intolerable pressures aimed at making them admit they had been victimized. None did. As the decision summarizes, \u201cAs those who were supposedly the victims of this enormous and incomprehensible judicial mess, bordering on scandal, testified, it was demonstrated beyond any reasonable doubt that the complaint was plagued with inconsistent subjectivities elaborated by the attitude of a father obsessed and displeased with the lifestyle chosen by his daughter and the influence he exerted on the people around him who repeated his words (his ex-wife and his current partner). And that it was all a misunderstanding that acquired unprecedented dimensions that had innocent citizens subjected to trial. All this, because of a certain messianic and biased attitude of the investigators and the state bodies created to disrupt criminal organizations, which of course do exist. It seems that once the machinery of the State is set in motion, it does not stop despite the fact that the evidence was conclusive to the contrary, acting on the basis of prejudices, and what is even more serious, affecting the constitutional rights of the alleged victims and their alleged perpetrators, treating the former, according to their testimonies, as if they were defendants<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

The decision noted that some \u201cvictims<\/em>\u201d suffered post-traumatic stress not because of their experience in the ITI, which they unanimously described as beneficial, but because of the raid. One of the alleged \u201cvictims<\/em>\u201d testified that, \u201cShe was treated as a criminal when she was supposedly considered a victim; she remembers that she had a nervous breakdown and they even refused to let her go to the bathroom. They did not explain what was going on, she only found out when she talked to the people they lived with, they took her to a shelter at six in the morning. At seven in the morning they took her to a court, without eating, without sleeping. She does not even remember what she declared because she was in shock, she only wanted to talk to her family and they did not ask her if she had a place to stay, neither was she asked afterwards if she needed anything<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

There are many similar stories mentioned in the decision and they are reminiscent of what I and other scholars such as Susan Palmer were told when we interviewed the \u201cvictims<\/em>\u201d allegedly \u201cliberated<\/em>\u201d\u2014but in fact abused\u2014during the 2022 raid against the BAYS.<\/p>\n

The decision is particularly critical of the PROTEX-connected psychologist who examined the \u201cvictims<\/em>.\u201d One of the latter reported that he was \u201cinterviewed by a woman who said she was a psychologist, \u2018but she did not look professional at all.\u2019 Instead of asking him how he was or treating him as a victim, she began to question him, she accused his pastor, telling him that he was full of money. He told her that he did not regard himself as a victim, but he felt that she only wanted to get information out of him to get what she wanted<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

The court concluded that the \u201cspecialized<\/em>\u201d psychologists exhibited \u201ca sort of professional deformation, understood as certain defective practices or bad habits, consisting in justifying their existence or biased interpretations by believing that they see in all cases the disvaluable behaviors they were trained to combat<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"
Judge Roberto Manuel L\u00f3pez Arango<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The attitude of the psychologists was not only unprofessional, said Judge Roberto Manuel L\u00f3pez Arango, who drafted the decision. It was possibly criminal. \u201cIt generates great concern and astonishment what was related under oath by the \u2018victim\u2019 witnesses regarding a possible direction by the psychologists so that they would affirm a falsehood to the detriment of the defendants. According to my criteria and experience, I need to say that I perceived the statements of the alleged victims as spontaneous, sincere, heartfelt and true (at least, with reference to how they perceived the truth) with the necessary degree of verisimilitude for me, in my capacity as a public official, to be obliged to take the case to the prosecutor to investigate what occurred<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Not only did the court declare all the ITI defendants innocent of all charges, it sent the case back to the prosecutor to investigate the wrongdoings of the psychologists and whether they had committed the crime of instigating witnesses to give false testimony. Nor did the court find the PROTEX and the others who instigated and conducted the raids innocent either. The spectacularization of the raids, the mistreatment of the defendants and the \u201cvictims<\/em>,\u201d the leaks to the media inducing them to create the myth of the \u201chorror cult<\/em>\u201d justify a rebuke to PROTEX and the other agencies and the admonishment that such human rights violations should cease.<\/p>\n

\u201cNever again<\/em>,\u201d said the court, summarizing in vivid terms the horrific experience of the \u201cvictims<\/em>\u201d who denied being victims: \u201cTheir lives changed for the worse after the raid on the camp. They emphasized how traumatic it was to have been woken up screaming in the dark in the early morning of that day by armed security forces personnel, who did not allow them to go to the bathroom or talk to each other; that they were then taken without providing them with any information, to a location that they still do not know where it was; separating the children from their siblings and relatives<\/em>,\u201d they were submitted to aggressive interviews.<\/p>\n

The problem, the court said, is systemic. It seems that in Argentina operates \u201ca state that under the banner of protecting the most \u2018vulnerable,\u2019 intervenes, takes what it needs from them for the sole purpose of being able to carry out a process with edges that make it highly mediatic, focused only on those it considers \u2018responsible,\u2019 without even allowing itself to listen to the truth of the supposed \u2018victims\u2019 it went to \u2018rescue\u2019 for the sole fact of not accepting that they, freely, have decided a different life project\u2014but one not illegal for that reason\u2014from that of the majority of society<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bitter Winter<\/em> has kept warning<\/a> about the abuses of PROTEX and its psychologists and the fabrication of non-existing \u201cvictims<\/em>.\u201d It is refreshing to see that some in the Argentinian judiciary agree and ask that something should be done \u201cto prevent episodes of this nature from recurring in the future<\/em>.\u201d The problem, however, cannot be solved by the judiciary alone, and calls for political intervention.<\/p>\n

Source: <\/em>Bitter Winter<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

yogaesoteric
\nFebruary 15, 2024<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Massimo Introvigne The defendants were absolved and the judge recommended to investigate the \u201cscandalous\u201d abuses of the anti-trafficking agencies and psychologists There are horror movies and then there are \u201chorror cults.\u201d In the incredible case of the Buenos Aires Yoga School (BAYS) the expression \u201csecta del horror\u201d was liberally used by the media. But […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-147997","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-a-flagrant-violation-of-the-human-rights-1602-en"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147997","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=147997"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147997\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":148007,"href":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147997\/revisions\/148007"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=147997"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=147997"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=147997"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}