A previous traffic police officer who declares to be the reincarnation of Jesus has actually been jailed by Russian security services following a raid on his commune in the Siberian wilderness.
Prominent mystic Sergei Torop established the Church of the Last Testament soon prior to the separation of the Soviet Union in 1991.
He generated countless fans after preaching that completion of the world impended and just he and his followers would make it through.
Russia’s Investigative Committee – the equivalent of the United States FBI – have actually implicated him and 2 other church leaders of utilizing mental pressure to draw out cash from fans, triggering severe damage to their health.
Mr Torop, Vadim Redkin and Vladimir Vedernikov are believed of ‘establishing a religious association whose activities involve violence against individuals and of inflicting grievous bodily harm to two or more people,’ a spokesperson for Russia’s Investigations Committee stated.
‘They utilized the cash of [their followers] and likewise utilized mental violence versus them,’ state media estimated her expression.
The operation to apprehend the 3 males included the authorities along with members of the Federal Security Service, the follower company to the KGB.
One regional resident declared 4 helicopters and lots of masked males had actually shown up in the location prior to searches of neighboring houses and structures started, the BBC reports.
The church leaders might confront 12 years in prison if condemned.
Followers of the cult established a settlement, referred to as the City of the Sun, in the Kuraga area of Siberia in 1995.
Several hundred members reside in other settlements in the area.
In 2000, the Russian ministry of justice stated the sect had actually generated 10,000 fans around the globe.
They need to comply with stringent guidelines, such as no cigarette smoking, drinking or exchanging cash, and need to live a fundamental subsistence.
Believers in the mentors of Mr Torop are no enabled to take in meat, coffee, tea, sugar, yeast bread and wheat items, according to BBC Russia.
The group integrates aspects of the Russian Orthodox Church with styles of reincarnation, along with preparations for the armageddon, according to a report in The New Yorker publication.
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