MIVILUDES convicted for defamation: that makes five!

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July 22, 2025

2025 is proving to be an annus horribilis for MIVILUDES, the French anti-cult state organization (Mission interministérielle de vigilance et de lutte contre les dérives sectaires – Interministerial Mission for Monitoring and Combating Cultic Deviances). On July 11, in fact, the Administrative Court of Paris issued the 5^th sentence against MIVILUDES for refusing to delete from its 2021 report some defamatory phrases to the detriment of the Christian congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses. The story goes hand in hand with the judgment of 16 June 2025 no. 2079-2025 issued by the Court of Florence which condemned the AIVS (Italian Association of Victims of Cults) to compensate the IBISG (Italian Buddhist Institute SOKA GAKKAI) with the sum of euros 35,247 and the obligation to publish the full sentence on their Facebook page and to delete the defamatory publications at issue in the lawsuit. The AIVS, for the record, is an Italian anti-cult group that orbits around FECRIS, the controversial European Federation of Research and Information Centers on Cults and Sects, funded by MIVILUDES and repeatedly convicted for defamation. It is not surprising, therefore, that it shares both the deeds and the consequences.

The MIVILUDES convicted for the 5^th time in 2025 must again pay its victim

The MIVILUDES to withdraw 11 defamatory statements against Jehovah’s Witnesses from its 2021 Annual Report

By Willy Fautré, director of Human Rights Without Frontiers — On 11 July 2025, the French state anti-cult agency MIVILUDES (Interministerial Mission for Monitoring and Combating Cultic Deviances) lost again a case against the French Jehovah’s Witnesses - the Fédération Chrétienne des Témoins de Jéhovah de France (FCTJF) -, just as it happened on 14 June 2024.

Jehovah’s Witnesses had initially filed a legal challenge against the French Ministry of the Interior, from which the MIVILUDES depends, seeking to get the removal of 19 passages from the 2021 Annual Report of the MIVILUDES that Jehovah’s Witnesses considered defamatory.

These passages, appearing between pages 61 and 69 of the report, were alleged to misrepresent the beliefs and practices of Jehovah’s Witnesses and to violate their fundamental rights. A first decision in 2024 by the Administrative Court of Paris was in favor of French Jehovah’s Witnesses. It ruled that 11 passages had to be removed. The MIVILUDES refused to delete them from its 2021 Annual Report but lost again its case.

The Paris Administrative Court (Credits)

The Court found that the MIVILUDES had overstepped its mandate by presenting unsubstantiated accusations as facts, and that these statements could have notable negative effects on the reputation and rights of Jehovah’s Witnesses. The MIVILUDES was also ordered to pay to the French Jehovah’s Witnesses Federation its legal costs.

This is the 5^th defeat of the MIVILUDES in seven months this year:

See the link to the texts of the defamatory statements from the 2021 MIVILUDES Annual Report HERE.

Moreover, an official report published by the Court of Auditors in France on 22 December 2023, raises a number of serious issues concerning the mismanagement of the MIVILUDES.

In the meantime, the Evangelical Protestant Church “Impact Centre chrétien” has also filed a complaint against MIVILUDES for defamatory statements in its annual report.

Key findings of the Court

The Court ordered the deletion of numerous statements that:

alleged Jehovah's Witnesses discourage their members from reporting or using the justice system,
claimed internal disciplinary procedures substitute for judicial processes,
suggested that Jehovah’s Witnesses fail to report child abuse,
asserted that members’ consent to medical treatment is “legally vitiated” due to community pressure,
accused the movement of inciting rape or obstructing justice,
claimed that children are subjected to harmful psychological pressure or indoctrination.

The Court emphasized that MIVILUDES relied on vague, outdated, or unverified testimonies, and failed to provide concrete evidence to support its most serious claims.
The Court rejected the Ministry’s defense that these statements were merely summaries of external sources, noting that MIVILUDES had adopted these claims as its own conclusions.
The Court also highlighted the existence of internal policies within the Jehovah’s Witnesses organization that explicitly instruct compliance with French law, including the obligation to report child abuse.

Statements ordered to be removed

The Court ordered the removal of specific excerpts from 11 of the 19 challenged allegations, including parts of Allegations 1, 3, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 18, and 15–16. These included claims that:

Jehovah’s Witnesses “demonize” state institutions.
They operate “judicial tribunals” that replace civil courts.
They pressure members not to report crimes.
They incite or tolerate sexual coercion within marriage.
Their teachings cause children psychological harm.

Statements not to be removed

The Court declined to order the removal of some passages that:

quoted external sources (e.g., parliamentary reports or press articles) without the MIVILUDES explicitly endorsing them,
described religious practices or beliefs without asserting legal or moral wrongdoing.

However, the Court clarified that even if some statements were factually inaccurate, they could not be annulled unless they were presented as the MIVILUDES’ own conclusions with notable effects.

Significance of the judgment

This ruling is a major legal victory for Jehovah’s Witnesses and other religious communities in France.

It confirms that MIVILUDES must respect legal standards of evidence and neutrality when reporting on religious groups.
It reinforces the principle of religious freedom and the right to a fair and impartial assessment by public authorities.
It sets a precedent for challenging defamatory or discriminatory content in official government publications.

The judgment also aligns with previous court decisions in France that have rejected similar allegations against Jehovah’s Witnesses, further demonstrating that many of the claims made by MIVILUDES and others have not withstood judicial scrutiny.

Source: HRWF