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Miscellaneous See other Miscellaneous Articles Title: Woman “imprisoned” on Scientology cruise ship for 12 years UPDATE: The Village Voice has an extended interview with Valeska Paris, which you can read here. For most people, an extended stay aboard a luxury cruise liner sounds like a dream vacation. But Valeska Paris says she was held against her will aboard the Scientology cruise ship "Freewinds" for more than a decade. During her stay on the vessel, she alleges, she was forced into hard labor and never allowed to leave the ship without an escort. In an interview with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's (ABC News) Lateline program, Paris claims that Church of Scientology leader David Miscavige sent her to the ship when she was 18 in order to prevent her family from pulling her out of the organization. "I was basically hauled in and told that my mum had attacked the church and that I needed to disconnect from her because she was suppressive," she said. "He decided the ship, and I found out two hours before my plane left, I was woken up in the morning and I was sent to the ship for 'two weeks.' " Paris was born into a Scientology family, but her mother quit the group after her husband committed suicide, blaming Scientology for coercing him out of a self-made personal fortune of more than a million dollars. Instead of the promised two week stay, Paris found herself unable to leave the ship without an official Scientology escort and was often forced into hard labor on the lower levels of the ship for stretches as long as two full days. "It's hot, it's extremely loud, it's smelly, it's not nice. I was sent down there at first for 48 hours straight on almost no sleep and I had to work by myself," she said. So, why didn't Paris simply escape from the ship when it would take port? The Freewinds has a relatively small sailing route, traveling throughout the Caribbean and occasionally docking at small islands. "I did not want to be there, I made it clear I did not want to be there and that was considered bad ethics, meaning it was considered not right," she said. "They take your passport when you go on the ship and you're in the middle of an island. So it's a bit hard [to escape] and by that time I was 18, I'd been in Scientology my whole life, it's not like I knew how to escape," she said. The Church of Scientology calls Paris' claims false but declined ABC requests to make church officials available for interviews for the story. The church, which has a well-known litigious history, threatened Lateline with legal action for taking part in an alleged breach of confidentiality between Paris and the church. In a statement, the Church of Scientology said Ms Paris' claims were false. "She certainly wasn't 'forced' to be there. She was also never forced to perform labor in the engine room," the statement said. "The Freewinds is a wonderful place, as even Valeska said on numerous occasions. Her allegation that she could only leave the ship with an escort is totally false." Poster Comment: From among comments: james • Richardson, United States No one stays on a ship voluntarily for 12 years , never happen.. Just another example of religion abusing people.. In the history of the world religion caused the death or torture or abuse of more people then all the evil rulers of the world .. When moses led the jews through the wildnerness God killed every man, woman, child and animal in every settlement they came upon... Those people did nothing and was minding their own business on their own land and were destroyed just for being there... Religion means death, cruety , torture , starvation , homos ( catholics) inprisonment , but never anything good... Robert Black To anyone imprisoned in such a manner. Use your head and not your emotions. Be calm inside but always be looking for a way out. Be subservient to the captors but all ways look for and opening. Find a way to get money. A little here, a little there and tuck it away but where you can get to it in a hurry. Be wise. You may think you are going nuts at times. Hot and cold showers oscillation between the hot and cold will help you keep focused. "That which doesn't kill me, will make me stronger!" As long as you are alive there is hope. In a cult situation it is a battle of the mind as well as physical. "One finds life through conquering the fear of death within one's mind. Empty the mind of all forms of attachment, make a go-for-broke charge and conquer the opponent with one decisive slash." - Togo Shigekata. Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest Begin Trace Mode for Comment # 1.
#1. To: Tatarewicz (#0)
Ok. She didn't know how to escape, but she knew how to get her story out to the media. Got it.
There are no replies to Comment # 1. End Trace Mode for Comment # 1.
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