A Quebec space cult that believes life on Earth was created by extraterrestrials has won a court victory against a francophone newspaper that infiltrated its ranks for a story.

The Quebec Court has ruled that the Journal de Montréal and parent company Sun Media invaded the privacy of some members of the Raëlian movement, a notorious religious group based in the province.

The court has ordered the paper and company to pay damages of $10,000 plus legal fees to some Raëlian members featured in the stories.

In 2003, two journalists at the newspaper — Brigitte McCann and Chantal Poirier — used false identities to join the group as part of an undercover investigation.

They spent nine months undercover, gaining access to the Raëlians' inner circle of supporters.

The journalists secretly took pictures of some members that were later published as part of an award-winning series of articles on the Raëlians.

The members in question complained they suffered embarrassment and loss of revenue after their pictures appeared in the newspaper — to which the court agreed, in its ruling released March 31.

Former French sports-car journalist Claude Vorilhon founded the Raëlian movement in 1974 after he claims he was visited by human-like extraterrestrials called Elohim.

The movement — which is estimated to have as many as 80,000 followers around the world — is based in Valcourt, Que., at UFOland, a Raëlian-owned compound.