Illustration of Jehovah's witnesses, in Nantes in 2018. -

SEBASTIEN SALOM GOMIS / SIPA

  • In a note consulted by 

    20 Minutes,

    the specialized services of the police, gendarmerie, territorial intelligence and Miviludes report an increase in referrals between 2019 and 2020.

  • In 2020, the Interministerial Mission for Vigilance and the Fight against Sectarian Abuses received nearly 3,000 reports.

  • The phenomena of influence related to health and the business of "well-being" have significantly increased.

Measure to better understand and protect.

Commissioned by the Minister for Citizenship, Marlène Schiappa, an inspection mission takes stock of the new "trends" in sectarian aberrations.

This note, consulted by

20 Minutes,

must be presented this Thursday by the minister.

Fueled by feedback from various specialized investigative services, this report shows an inflation of sectarian practices.

In five years, the Interministerial Mission responsible for vigilance and the fight against sectarian aberrations (Miviludes) has recorded an increase in reports of 30%.

If the effects of the pandemic cannot yet be "fully measured", specify the authors of this note, the coronavirus has played a significant role in this phenomenon.

"The health crisis of 2020 has caused an increase in practices likely to engender sectarian aberrations", they believe.

An increase at all levels

Characterizing the phenomenon of "mental control" is, for investigators, often long and complex.

However, Miviludes has observed a recent increase in its referrals.

Between March and June 2020, the body received 80 reports “directly related to the health crisis”.

On the police side, the divisional commissioner at the head of the OCRVP (Central Office for the Repression of Violence against Persons), Eric Berot, details

: “Our services manage around a hundred cases linked to sectarian aberrations.

Half of these files have come back to us in recent months and are linked to Covid-19 ”.

A “substantial” increase also noted by the national referent in charge of this subject for the gendarmerie: “In 2019, there were 129 procedures linked to sectarian aberrations.

In 2020, we had an increase of 58%, which represents about 200 procedures in total.

And of this number, about 60% of them relate to health.

"In the summary submitted to the minister, the experts explain:" The unprecedented health crisis, followed by very serious economic consequences, opens the way to an existential crisis and may lead some people to approach sectarian groups which give the impression to give meaning to events.

"

Surfing in an "anxiety-provoking" context

Since the appearance of Covid-19, several “gurus” or therapists, lambasting traditional medicine and the pharmaceutical industry, have developed “methods” and practices to supposedly fight the virus.

In the note addressed to Marlène Schiappa, the investigation services specify that "the main part of the concerns expressed in the reports relate to health proposals: advice to prevent infection and pseudo-remedies often related to conspiracy theories.

The support offers for those who suffer or have suffered from confinement were also numerous and worrying, because they are aimed at people weakened and destabilized by the anxiety-provoking context ”.

A “fear” which becomes an “extremely important lever for those who seek to impose a mental hold […].

The coronavirus is blessed bread for these people, ”analyzes the head of the OCRVP.

All the more so as the context may have accentuated certain weaknesses.

The loss of a job and isolation can become risk factors, adds the national referent of the gendarmerie.

Religion and conspiracy

Beyond alternative medicine, several religious currents identified for a long time by the services dedicated to sectarian aberrations have used the epidemic to "recruit".

“At our level, we have had new inquiries related to Jehovah's Witnesses.

Which is not very surprising since they are part of an apocalyptic movement.

The pandemic echoed their doctrine, ”notes the investigator of the gendarmerie.

A "resurgence of activity" which again appears in the report commissioned by the minister and which warns: "The impact that these simplistic and authoritarian speeches can have on people isolated or distressed by the crisis could generate new referrals in the months to come up.

"

To cope with this upsurge in sectarian aberrations - already observed after the 2015 attacks in France - investigators from the central direction of the judicial police plan to "strengthen" their territorial network.

“We are in the process of setting up correspondents on sectarian aberrations.

They will serve as a privileged point of contact for territorial intelligence, for victim assistance associations and for the gendarmerie services, if they want to call on us, ”says Divisional Commissioner Eric Bérot.

Finally, a strengthening at the Miviludes level should take place soon.

In a press release released on Wednesday, Minister Marlène Schiappa announced the appointment of a magistrate, Hanène Romdhane, at the head of the interministerial mission recently attached to the Ministry of the Interior.

An orientation board will be “installed” and a circular aimed in particular at “systematizing” reports to the judicial authorities must be sent to the prefects.

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  • epidemic

  • Society

  • Covid 19

  • Coronavirus

  • Marlene Schiappa

  • Sect