Other notable recipients of the award include former German Federal Minister of Labor Norbert Blüm, former Secretary of State of France, Alain Vivien and Operation Clambake founder Andreas Heldal-Lund.
[3] Presented in Aachen, Germany, the Charlemagne Award, or Karlspreis, "honors individuals who promote democracy, human rights and the common values of Europe.
"[5] The organization notes that their criticism of the United States for "its failure to confront Scientology’s human rights abuses while promoting the cult around the world" has made the Award controversial, and states that all past recipients of the Award have been targeted by the Church of Scientology as suppressive persons, and subjected to the Church's fair game policy.
"[11] Gandow cited Minton's actions as chairman of the Lisa McPherson Trust helping former members of Scientology make claims against the organization in court.
"[23] Blüm also stated in the interview that he did not support a ban on Scientology in Germany, but rather sought to foster the distribution of information about the organization.
"[23] At the awards presentation, Thomas Gandow stated that Blüm was the only federal minister to date to criticize Scientology's "new totalitarianism.
[24][25] The Award was again presented in Leipzig at St. Nicholas Church, and a congratulatory speech was given by Bavaria's Interior Minister, Guenther Beckstein.
[29][30] Operation Clambake was cited by the Committee for exposing what it referred to as "fraud and human rights violations" of the Church of Scientology in the United States.
[31][32] The European-American Citizens Committee said it echoed a statement Heldal-Lund had written at the Operation Clambake website, where he stated: "People should be free to believe whatever they want, including Scientology," but also cited what he believed to be the organization's "deceitfulness, its lack of compassion for its members (especially the hard-working staff), its aggressive hard sell, its arrogance, its attack on free speech, its litigiousness, its harassment of its critics, its lack of concern for families, its gross neglect and abuse of children.
"[33] Church of Scientology officials had attempted to silence Heldal-Lund by requesting Google Inc. and Internet Archive remove links to Operation Clambake, claiming violation of their copyrights.
[34] Alain Vivien presented Heldal-Lund with the Award, and stated that his work had revealed the actions of Scientologists with "respect and intelligence.