Oooh, fight your way out of this one, defraudulators.

BRUSSELS, Belgium — A Belgian prosecutor on Tuesday recommended that the U.S.-based Church of Scientology stand trial for fraud and extortion, following a 10-year investigation that concluded the group should be labeled a criminal organization.

Scientology said it would fight the criminal charges recommended by investigating prosecutor Jean-Claude Van Espen, who said that up to 12 unidentified people should face charges.

Van Espen’s probe also concluded that Scientology’s Brussels-based Europe office and its Belgian missions conducted unlawful practices in medicine, violated privacy laws and used illegal business contracts, said Lieve Pellens, a spokeswoman at the Federal Prosecutors Office.

“They also face charges of being … a criminal organization,” Pellens said in a telephone interview.

An administrative court will decide whether to press charges against the Scientologists.

Of course, the scientologists are screaming bias.

In a statement, Scientology’s Europe office accused the prosecutor of hounding the organization and said it would contest the charges.

“For the last 10 years, the prosecutor has been using the media, trying to damage the reputation of the Church of Scientology and not being able to put a case in court,” Scientology said. “As a consequence, this created a climate of intolerance and discrimination” in Belgium.

It added that the prosecutor’s recommendations suggested Scientology was guilty even before a court could hear the charges, making it “difficult for the Church of Scientology to recover and properly defend (itself) before the court.”

That didn’t surprise me. But this did:

Belgium, Germany and other European countries have been criticized by the State Department for labeling Scientology as a cult or sect and enacting laws to restrict its operations.

There is something wrong with the American State Department. Anti-Israel and pro-scientology? You’ve got to be kidding me.

And oh, yeah—this post will bring the usual scientology stooge emails to my inbox. They think I can’t tell that these random strangers defending the Cult of Ron are cultists themselves.

Longtime readers will know that I utterly loathe scientology, the faux religion that got its tax-exempt religious status by being the only organization in the world that managed to out-harry the IRS. A little reading up on the so-called church will show you a history of bullying, lawsuits, illegal activities, and attempts to shut down all criticism of scientology. It is one of the only religions in the world that copyrights its holy books. I defy you to find the copyright owner of the Torah, the New Testament, or even the Koran. If you and I wanted to reproduce an entire Bible on a blog, we could do so freely and without penalty. Scientology has a long history of shutting down websites and message boards that use its materials to criticize it.

Keith Henson was arrested and convicted in California of a heinous “hate crime” law: “Interfering with a religion.” He was picketing scientology. In fear of what would happen to him if he went to jail, he fled to Canada instead, but left Canada some time ago (which explains why I could never find an update beyond his arrest in Canada).

The police in Arizona caught him a few days ago, and he was arrested and is now out on bond. He is fighting extradition to California, but it seems the scientologists have already caught up with him in Arizona: He was mistreated by the police while in prison.

There is a Keith Henson Legal Support Fund to which you can donate. But please, click those links above and read up on the history of this “church.”

Every so often, particularly after I write something about scientology, one of their lemmings writes me an email pretending not to be from the group, asking me about scientology and what I’m writing. They are the most paranoid people this side of Kim Jung Il. They are schooled in deception and misrepresentation (let us never forget Tom Cruise’s little appearance on the Today Show, where he opined that he is more knowledgeable about antidepressants than the entire medical industry). They shout down all criticism as “bigotry” (count the number of times “bigot” comes out of Cruise’s mouth when talking about scientology). Germany refuses to recognize them as a church. Our country should take another look at this cult that masquerades as a church, and strip it of its tax-free status.

Free Keith Henson, the blog devoted to news of his fight against the cult, is now a permalink on this blog. It’s going to remain there until Keith goes free for good.