By Henry Samue
The Telegraph
November 24, 2011
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/8913714/French-woman-loses-Opus-Dei-enslavement-case.html
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| Catherine Tissier arrives at court in Paris Photo: LIONEL BONAVENTURE/AFP/Getty Images |
Catherine Tissier, 40, had claimed that from the age of 14 until 27 she was forced to clean, wash and serve 15 hours per day, with no holidays or proper pay at a hotel school linked to Opus Dei.
A French court ruled there was no evidence she had been trapped all that time without remuneration.
She said as a "numerary assistant", she was forced to take vows of obedience, poverty and chastity and cut off from the outside world.
She had filed for charges of "concealed work" and "payment contrary to dignity".
Defence lawyers had insisted the trial, believed to be the first of its kind in Europe, was a simple labour dispute.
But lawyers for Miss Tissier alleged the group's practices were physically and psychologically damaging to their client.
Opus Dei features in the Da Vinci Code, Dan Brown's esoteric bestseller, where the group is depicted as ruthless, even murderous sect bent on global power. It is a portrayal the group, which in Latin means "Work of God", categorically rejects.
The prosecution had called for the Acut association that runs the hotel school to be fined 30,000 euros. It called for the headmistress of its Dosnon school in eastern France and the secretary of the adjoining Couvrelles chateau to be fined 6,000 euros each.
In her ruling, the judge made no mention of Opus Dei despite its links to the accused and said that Miss Tissier's claims of "concealed work" were "not demonstrated". It said she had been paid as tax authorities had records of her salary. Miss Tissier claimed the school hotel took the money back by forcing her to sign blank cheques.
Miss Tissier's lawyer, Rodolphe Bosselut, said he was disappointed but "not surprised" by the ruling. "The extreme hostility of the court regarding my client led me to expect this decision," he said.
Opus Dei said it had been vindicated.
"Over the ten-year inquiry, the accusation has persisted in vain in seeking to implicate Opus Dei," it said in a statement, adding that the civil plaintiff had sought to portray via the media a "caricatured image of the institution".
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