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ICSA 2013 Annual Conference
Manipulation, Abuse, and Maltreatment in Groups
Trieste, Italy - July
4-6, 2013
Human rights, the law, and new religion movements:
finding a balance -
How the social
context can violate individuals’ human rights
“The impact of the media on the members and families
of the Arkeon association”
Ladies
and gentlemen,
Today
I’m here to report on the mediatic-judicial case suffered in Italy from a movement known as “Arkeon”. I
will discuss some of the difficulties faced by individuals and families that,
in different degrees, have participated in the seminars after accusations were
made in January 2006, and then disseminated, that Arkeon was a “dangerous
psycho-cult” with a destructive character. In particular I want to highlight
the role of the media which - together with some anti-cult associations, the
magistrates and the institutions - painfully characterized this very emblematic
case.
I
will start from some concrete examples.
An
Italian journalist and writer, Caterina Boschetti, in her April 2010 speech in London, referred to “arkeon” in the
following terms:
“…Recently a major breakthrough occurred at the level
of the Italian media: two important episodes which led public opinion to take
interested in cults. I refer to the
arrest in Bari of the leader of the organization Arkeon, Vito Carlo Moccia.
This group had thousands of followers in our country, (one estimate: 10.000
people). In 2006, for the first time, Italian television showed a program
giving information, following testimony by the adepts who managed to free
themselves, but it is only recently that Vito Carlo Moccia was arrested. The
crimes committed are sadly known: criminal conspiracy, fraud, illicit exercise
of medicine, violence against individuals, ill-treatment and abuse on minors,
applying the art of undue influence for criminal ends. All for the money, much
money…”.
“Evolution of the situation in Italy: from the black
book of Italian cults to the project Nepenthes, a film about the cultist
excesses to make people aware of the problem” - Caterina Boschetti, Journalist
and author
The
fact is that the founder of Arkeon was never arrested and, what’s more , in April
2010 the trial against “arkeon” had not yet begun and anyway it would have
ended in July 2012 with an absolution from Bari’s Tribunal:
“…the outcome of this Judgement disconfirmed the
existence of the main and most serious accusation, which is Arkeon being a
“psycho cult”, it excluded the existence of a state of inability to understand
and will for those attending any kind of seminar, of mental manipulation
techniques and of any kind of violence acted against minor age persons. In this
Judgement there is no allegation of fiscal Crimes and it was clear that the
costs of the seminars were fixed and well known to attendants. The process
excluded the existence of the aggravating conditions of having induced in the
attendants the fear of an imagery danger as reason for monetary payments and
that of a relevant damage. Hence it followed the lack of basis to' proceed for
the Crimes of truffle, for which no quarrel has been presented by the victims…”
“Motivations of the judgement, pages 896 and 897”
http://veritasuarkeon.org/category/video/sentenza
https://ilcasoarkeon.files.wordpress.com/2009/04/spiegazione-capi-imputazione-con-sentenza-e-parti-civili.pdf
https://ilcasoarkeon.files.wordpress.com/2009/04/spiegazione-capi-imputazione-con-sentenza-e-parti-civili.pdf
What
authorizes a sensitive person, a journalist, to feed the media with false and
ungrounded information on a group, which could damage the lives of many
harmless families? Who and what authorizes a person to exploit with false data
a very delicate story which deals the life of thousands of families, with the
aim to promote the reintroduction, in Italy, of a law against plagiarism?
The
mediatic-judicial case about Arkeon started in January 2006, when three persons
- who attended arkeon seminars in different ways - accused the behaviour of
Arkeon association during three acts of a transmission on one national TV
channel, accusing the founder and other arkeon teachers of many crime, like truffles,
sexual abuses, violence on minors, suicide incitement and so on.
The
president of an anti-cult association took part to such transmission, declaring
she studied “the arkeon cult” and its risks for ten years and she collected
many serious witnesses.
After
these transmissions, a true escalation began of TV programmes, articles on
newspapers, internet forums which still goes on, after more then seven years
and despite a judgement of substantial absolution for Arkeon.
ARTICLE LIST before the opening of the trial
ARTICLE LIST after the opening of the trial
Immediately
after the first transmissions on Arkeon, anonymous letters of threat began being
received both by those organizing the seminars and the hotels hosting the
seminars in many Italian cities. Letters describing the “dangerous and
destructive arkeon cult” and the “devil Vito Moccia”, the founder of the
movement.
During
the following months many “accidents”
happened, as wheels cut to the cars of people attending seminars, or more and
more heavy threats (pictures of skulls and skeletons included) directly
received at home by masters or people attending their seminars.
Not
to talk of what was starting on the internet. Dedicated forums where - among
falsehoods covered by anonymity and true insults - rapidly it was required, in
delirious crescendo, the “excommunication
from the Catholic Church for the arkeon families” or the intervention of social
services to “remove the minors from arkeon families to protect them”.
These
things and many more contributed to create an enormous confusion in people and
families.
By
sure, what created a growing discomfort was the label “cult”.
As
well pointed out by the researcher Raffaella Di Marzio in one interview of hers
dated 2013:
“Arkeon was borne as a Reiki association which, around
2004, changed because the founder returned to his infancy catholic roots. He
reconverted to Catholicism. The organization was changing its socio-cultural
and anthropological features and was becoming something else. Indeed the name
changed in “Arkeon” when they were investigated, before it had another name. During
these changes, in these kind of organizations
strong disagreement arises and large part of the attendants of the Reiki
seminars refused it. Many problems
arose, also because the founder came nearer to the Catholic and found some
priests who welcomed him. From the point of view of these priest, these were
persons passing from a distance from the Church (Reiki, the East, certain
beliefs incompatible with the Catholic Church) to a slow coming back in
the Catholicism.
During this deep change , Arkeon was becoming a anthropologic
path to recollect the ancient roots of the family: the values of sonship, fathership,
mothership. It has never been a religion, rather an anthropologic path with catholic
connotations…”
Prosecution and anti-cult campaign: interview with
Raffaella Di Marzio
Suffering
harmless the ignominious label of “cult”, while vulnerable for this troubled
change, created an enormous confusion in the persons attending or who attended
the Arkeon seminars of two or four days. But even more, it caused suspicion and
fear in the relatives (parents, spouses or sons), who had never directly known arkeon.
The word “cult” is certainly not
reassuring for anybody, and in the common sense it indicates at least something
unclear and criminal, if not even perverted.
For
example, it is no surprise the behaviour of a roman family which, after seeing
a widely followed transmission on a national TV channel which dealt with the arkeon case in an
impacting way, worried for their 20 years old son who had attended two arkeon
seminars following the invitation of his girlfriend, then called an anti-cult
association and, during 2007 summer, threatened their son to leave his
girlfriend and arkeon for his own sake, with a gun in their hand pointed at him.
It
should be noted that this serious and goodwilling young man, whom I had the
pleasure to know, was not taking the distance from his family, on the contrary
he only wanted - maybe also thanks to his path in arkeon - to receive his
father’s blessing to settle up his own family with his girlfriend. What indeed
he did, even if to do it he had to put a five hundred kilometers distance from
his parents, in order to avoid other unpleasant misunderstandings or tragedies.
Arkeon
e i "Cervelli Lavati" 19-3-2009
In
fact, the peak of the story was reached only in October 2007, when the founder and
other 5 arkeon masters received the notification of investigation from Bari’s
Police. The following day all the italian newspapers and TV channels spoke
about the “arkeon cult defeated”: truffles, sexual abuses, violences on minors,
slanders, psycho-cult and adepts were the typical words used in the headlines
of the scoops. A TV program was broadcasted in prime time on the case:
Since
then, the Arkeon seminars - which until then had continued despite many
difficulties and undersized - definitely ended. The website was closed by the Police,
just like the dedicated discussion forum and all the relative email accounts. The
arkeon families found themselves suddenly isolated, harmless and exposed to any
injury and falsehood. All of this, while the TV showed the images of the press
conference of the Police of Bari which “defeated
a dangerous and destructive psycho-cult: the greatest in Europa…”.
Those
were days of true madness. Nobody understood what was happening. But it was
clear that anything could happen.
After
the first TV programmes of 2006, inside arkeon a strong debate opened on the
accusations received. A wave of self-criticism strongly moved and many meetings
were organized, open to all the arkeon attendants, to go deeper and collect
witnesses of any potential misbehaviour or abuse suffered from people during
the seminars. In the previous years, indeed, the internal “Ethical Committee” had
banned some masters, but for reason far less serious than those witnessed on TV
and basically related to a not full respect of the internal code of conduct
concerning the arkeon teaching approach.
What’s
more, to avoid any risk of “self-referentiality”, the board of Arkeon worked
since the first months of 2006 to allow an objective study of the group, of its
modes and of any criticalities, led by professional people completely unrelated
with the group.
To this
aim, the founder Vito Moccia called the GRIS
(Group for Socio-Religious Research and Information), which kindly refused
the invitation.
Finally,
this neutral study was performed between the end of 2006 and the first months
of 2007 by the authoritative CISF (International
Centre For Studies on the Family).
Notwithstanding,
after the accusations from the Prosecutor Office - which basically recalled
those raised on TV - an abyss opened in front of the arkeon families.
Suddenly
anonymous threatening phone calls began, directly against persons around arkeon,
but also at work, in the schools and kindergartens of the sons.
The
parents of the schoolmates of our sons, frightened by the apocalyptic tones of
TV programmes and newspapers headlines, started avoiding any contact and
sometimes stopped hailing us. In some schools, due to anonymous phone calls but
also to the fears of the other parents, the school managers strongly asked the
arkeon parents to bring their sons elsewhere.
In
conclusion, delirium and hysteria exploded.
Sometimes,
the children were jeered and heavily insulted by their school mates who
probably had heard their parents’
discussions on arkeon.
The
same happened at work, where - due to anonymous reports or mediatic exposure -
many persons who had attended the seminars were interviewed by their managers
and sometimes fired.
This
mediatic pillory applied also in the churches. One priest explicitly invited a
catholic family of arkeon not to take part anymore in the Sunday’s Mass in his
church and to change parish because they “embarrassed the whole community”.
Exactly
in that period I changed house together with my wife and children. After a
painful reflection, still unable to believe to what was happening and conscious
I exposed my name in the web on a blog dedicated to the arkeon case, I decided
to inform preliminarily the counterparts of my new village. So, with enormous
pain and embarrassment, I went to the School manager, the Major, the head of
Local Police and the Parish to explain them - in the less confuse way possible
- what me and my family were living and the chance for anonymous letters
against us. I did it with the death in my heart, conscious that - in case the
news had to spread - surely me and my family would have had no future in that
place. Thanks God I found in all those persons a great opening and
understanding.
If
possible, the situation for the families worsened further on when, on 26 march
2008, also the scholar Raffaella Di Marzio was inquired for the same crimes attributed
to the arkeon masters and her website was closed by the Police of Bari.
The confessions of "the monster in the
mirror". Arkeon, the anti-cult associations and the Order of Psychologists: a personal experience.
I had contacted
Mrs. Di Marzio in November 2007, after the intervention of the Prosecutor
Office of Bari against Arkeon.
I had
read some of her scientific publication on the matter and hoped to find in her
an open minded counterpart, ready to explain to me and to the confused arkeon
families what was happening and also to listen to them. My wish was not
frustrated. In February 2008, during a first meeting, she met several arkeon
families and then she published on her blog an article on it.
“To be or not to be a cult : THAT is the question -
When the information becomes a dogma, the committees become courts, the experts
become “guru” and people remain, anyway, victim”.
The
families, from their own, founding an authoritative and respectful counterpart,
opened themselves and started sharing directly to Doc. Di Marzio their fears
for all the story.
So when
the same Raffaella Di Marzio was inquired after one month by the Police and her
website was closed, the world collapsed for many persons.
The
picture worsened also due to a new wave on the media, which attacked further
on, exciting the arkeon critics who raged on the web with no constraint, setting
on fire the opening of the trial.
The
outcome of all such pressure was the disaster in many arkeon families, as many
persons nearly frightened by this manhunt had no more references.
Together
with other associates, in order to avoid further prosecutions, with infinite
pain I choose to support the closing of the Arkeon association.
Many
families breaked up, in others so strong was the pain for the lies heard and
the isolation suffered that someone considered suicide. Someone among those inquired
indeed tried it.
After
some months, in October 2008, desperate and conscious of the risk I ran, I
tried to dialogue with European FECRIS (European Federation of Centres of
Research and Information on Cults and Sects), which, through its President Mr.
Griess, turned me to its Italian affiliates. These ones, despite my many
preaches, didn’t want to open any dialogue, no way.
“Communication to FECRIS 7th October 2008”
This
state of impotence continued until spring 2011. Meanwhile the tabloid articles
attacked anyone who simply dared appearing on the scene of the arkeon case, even
when only to raise some question. Everything was grinded through the media and
the discussion forums on the web.
In
spring 2011, as the arkeon trial was approaching, some facts changed the scene.
On 8
march 2011 the Magistrate of Bari archived the case against Di Marzio because “the
crime news was inconsistent” and soon after her website was again available.
At the
same time, few weeks before, a former arkeon master - who had become one of its
main accusers - had committed suicide. Some newspapers tried someway to grant
arkeon the responsibility for that, but - as it become later on clear from the
witnesses in the trail - this was more probably related to a fallback in drug
addiction and the consequent painful divorce.
The
mood around the trial worsened even more after the Prosecutor in Bari decided
to open up a parallel case accusing of slander 47 arkeon members, many of whom
were in the list of the defence witnesses for the founder Vito Moccia. That
implied making void their witness, as they were accused too. This “dance of the
procedures” costed a lot of money to many innocent families, but also gave an
unpleasant sensation.
Anyway,
the case for slander against the 47s had been then archived, after the end of
the main trial. But it should not be
forget that the newspapers in March 2010 at the beginning of all the story
headlined: “… 47 inquired. Under accusation
the adepts of Arkeon - The psycho-satanic cult promised to solve psychic
problems and serious diseases through its seminars”. Nor it should be forgotten that this case
kept suspended for three years the life of 47 persons, whose only wrong was
their wish to bring their witness in a highly delicate trial.
The absolution
sentence of arkeon, as for the psycho-cult issue and the related crimes, was
pronounced by the Court on 16 July 2012.
http://veritasuarkeon.org/video/sentenza/il-testo-della-sentenza-2
https://ilcasoarkeon.files.wordpress.com/2009/04/spiegazione-capi-imputazione-con-sentenza-e-parti-civili.pdf
https://ilcasoarkeon.files.wordpress.com/2009/04/spiegazione-capi-imputazione-con-sentenza-e-parti-civili.pdf
It has
not been appealed against by the accusation, so it can be considered final. Instead
the crime for abuse of the profession of psychologist and the relative crime
association has been appealed by the defense and it will be treated in a second
trial.
The sentence spoke clearly: “…the outcome of this Judgement disconfirmed the
existence of the main and most serious accusation, which is Arkeon being a
“psycho cult”, it excluded the existence of a state of inability to understand
and will for those attending any kind of seminar, of mental manipulation
techniques and of any kind of violence acted against minor age persons. In this
Judgement there is no allegation of fiscal Crimes and it was clear that the
costs of the seminars were fixed and well known to attendants. The process
excluded the existence of the aggravating conditions of having induced in the
attendants the fear of an imagery danger as reason for monetary payments and
that of a relevant damage. Hence it followed the lack of basis to' proceed for
the Crimes of truffle, for which no quarrel has been presented by the victims…”
“Motivations of the judgement, pages 896 and 897”
Notwithstanding,
the lawyer of those accusing Arkeon issued a curious press release so ending: “…No
absolution, then, for Moccia and his associates (apart from slander), but confirmation
that the serious facts denounced were true and proven!” Avv. Marco Marzari
Even
more alarming is that on 18 June 2012, which is five months after the
absolution sentence, two Senators of the
Italian Republic signed a document named “Atto di Sindacato Ispettivo n°
4-08890” where, among other things, they gave it for granted that in the arkeon
trial the crime of mistreating of minor had been proven. Which is false and so more serious given the
institutional level where it was said.
But
years of prejudice and falsehoods spread on the media cannot be cancelled
easily.
Personally
I’m grateful to this hard experience and the long pain of these years. I spent
and exhausted myself also mentally, and I well understand I would need also
some pharmacologic support. I worked for too many years in psychiatric
hospitals not to realize it. The condition my Psychiatrist required me is to
get out of this story and put it definitely away. I kindly answered I cannot; but
even more I don’t want to.
I’m ill-treated
with denounces, nearly all for slander, by some Italian anti-cult groups, because
I didn’t keep silent about the wrongs and bullying I witnessed.
On my
side there is not some psychopathic leader or people belonging to some strange
group. In my same condition there are many scholars and professionals, here
present and who organized this Meeting in Trieste. And this honors me.
I want
to conclude my speech with a prosy but hard note.
Demonizing
someone or something is not so difficult.
Using
the word “cult” to do it is the simplest way.
What
today, with all respects, I want to make well clear to all of us here present
is that every time we use the word “cult” or we “whisper” it to some journalist
so he writes it about a group or a story, we are taking the explicit
responsibility to label with fire and forever all the members of that group.
Everybody, good and bad, guilty and innocents, adults and children. And this
label, like it or not, is forever.
The
true reason I’m here today is to remind me and you, Ladies and Gentlemen, only
this.
Thank
you by heart for your attention.
Good
job to you all.
Pietro
Bono
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