E/CN.4/1993/62 page 108 citizens to support those activities, by obtaining voluntary contributions, selling literature and borrowing from individuals (especially through telephone solicitation, use of the mails, and credit cards). All of the individuals convicted along with Mr. LaRouche were directly involved in these fund-raising activities. Beginning in 1983, at Mr. LaRouche’s personal direction, the NCLC resorted to increasingly aggressive and illegal fund-raising tactics, including schemes to obtain money by fraudulent pretences. In particular, it was proved at trial that donors were asked to loan money to the organization with the promise of repayment at specific times and with specific rates of interest, when in fact defendants knew that the loans would not be repaid in the manner promised and had no intention of honoring their promissory notes and letters of indebtedness. Many lenders lost significant amounts of money, some their life savings. Moreover, the organization engaged in credit card fraud. It obtained credit card account numbers from private individuals who offered donations or purchased subscriptions to LaRouche publications, and then made fraudulent billings against those accounts without the individuals’ knowledge or consent. These activities, together with Mr. LaRouche’s failure to file income tax returns and his efforts to mislead and obstruct the United States internal revenue service, were the basis of investigation and prosecution by a number of state and federal authorities. A federal grand jury initially issued an indictment against the LaRouche Organization in Boston, Massachusetts, on 6 October 1986; a second superseding indictment naming Mr. LaRouche and various of his colleagues, was issued in July 1987. The charges included credit card fraud and obtaining fraudulent loans, as well as conspiracy to obstruct justice. Trial began in Boston in December 1987, and continued for four months but was terminated when the presiding judge declared a "mistrial" due to "severe hardships" that would be suffered by several of the jurors if the trial had continued. Retrial in Boston was set for January 1989, but in October 1988, Mr. LaRouche and his colleagues were separately indicted by a federal grand jury sitting in the Eastern District of Virginia on similar grounds including mail fraud, conspiracy to commit mail fraud, and conspiracy to obstruct income tax collection. At trial, a number of defrauded investors as well as several of Mr. LaRouche’s former associates testified; by their own choice, none of the defendants took the stand. On 16 December 1988, the jury returned verdicts of guilty on all of the counts with which the defendants had been charged. As noted above, that conviction has been affirmed by the Court of Appeals, and the Supreme Court has declined to review it further. The Government of the United States categorically denies the allegations that have been made to the Special Rapporteur on religious intolerance and notes that the prosecution of those who engage in criminal fraud is a fully legitimate exercise of a Government’s authority to enforce its own laws. The United States further notes that, even though he is incarcerated at the federal correctional institution in Rochester, Minnesota, Mr. LaRouche has continued his political activities, publishing his writings and, in 1990, running as a candidate for the House of Representatives in the United States Congress."