Gerry Armstrong is being sued for $10 million by the Church of Scientology. The trial is set to start on April 9 in Marin County, California. There's a newspaper article about it here..
Gerry is a former Scientologist who is accused of breaching an agreement that he signed in 1986 while under great duress, in which he agreed not to speak about Scientology. Scientology spend a great deal of money to silence him. You can read agreement here. Here's some excerpts from it:
B. Plaintiff has been fully advised and understands that the alleged injuries sustained by him are of such character that the full extent and type of injuries may not be known at the date hereof, and it is further understood that said alleged injuries, whether known or unknown at the date hereof, might possibly become progressively worse and that as a result, further damages may be sustained by Plaintiff; nevertheless, Plaintiff desires by this document to forever and fully release the Releasees. Plaintiff understands that by the execution of this release no further claims arising out of his experience with, or actions by, the Releasees, from the beginning of time to and including the date hereof, which may now exist or which may exist in the future may ever be asserted by him or on his behalf, against the Releasees.
D. Plaintiff agrees never to create or publish or attempt to publish, and or assist another to create for publication by means of magazine, article, book or other similar form, any writing or to broadcast or to assist another to create, write, film or video tape or audio tape any show, program or movie, or to grant interviews or discuss with others, concerning their experiences with the Church of Scientology, or concerning their personal or indirectly acquired knowledge or information concerning the Church of Scientology, L. Ron Hubbard or any of the organizations, individuals and entities listed in Paragraph 1 above. Plaintiff further agrees that he will maintain strict confidentiality and silence with respect to his experiences with the Church of Scientology and any knowledge or information he may have concerning the Church of Scientology, L. Ron Hubbard, or any of the organizations, individuals and entities listed in Paragraph 1 above.
There's really no question that Gerry has breached the contract, he freely admits it. But I think it's disgusting that a document like this could actually hold up in court. I don't think it should be legal to have somebody sign away their freedom of speech. And why would Scientology spend millions to keep Gerry quiet if they had nothing to hide?
I'm proud to say I helped Gerry break that injunction. In 2000 Gerry stayed at my place for a couple of days, and we picketed the Edmonton Church of Scientology together. There's some video footage in RealPlayer format here.