They agree that it should be vigorously investigated and prosecuted. However, the French judges in charge did not seem to be familiar with doubts raised in the United States and elsewhere about belated memories of sexual abuses surfacing after many years in therapy or within the frame of national controversies. It is in fact too easy to accuse public figures of sexual abuses allegedly taking place ten or fifteen years ago. Scholars are often asked whether there is a risk that groups such as the Mandarom may become involved in violent confrontations with the authorities, or commit mass suicides like the Solar Temple. These questions are now raised again after the death of the leader.
Scholars normally answer that the Aumist doctrine is firmly against violence and suicides.
This is, however, only part of the story. According to these theories, the hostile official responses to a movement regarded as deviant may in fact amplify its deviance. Excessive reaction against a movement, thus, becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy and may cause the very evil it is supposed to avoid. As if to confirm these concerns, the mayor of Grasse, Mr. Jean-Pierre Leleux, vetoed on March 25 the burial in the Grasse cemetery, scheduled to take place on March 26. This started a conflict between the Prefet and the mayor of Castellane, Michel Carle, who did not want Castellane's cemetery to become a pilgrimage site for the Aumists.