"The trial of the Famille Missionnaire de Notre-Dame (FMND), which concluded its hearings in Privas on January 22 and now awaits a verdict on March 24, has become a significant moment in the development of French criminal law. What started as a disagreement between five former sisters and a traditional Catholic community has turned into a demonstration of how far the ideas of “abuse of weakness” (abus de faiblesse) and “cultic deviances” (dérives sectaires) can be stretched. It shows how easily they can be used to regulate religious life. Bitter Winter [has] previously presented the case and warned that these legal concepts amount to a rebranding of the old discredited “brainwashing” theories, which were rejected by courts in the United States and most democratic countries. The FMND case proves that these concerns are not just theoretical."