The guru of an international yoga movement, Gregorian Bivolaru, was indicted this Friday evening for rape, abuse of weakness, kidnapping and human trafficking by an organized gang, AFP learned from a judicial source.
During a hearing at the Paris court, a liberty and detention judge decided to place him in pre-trial detention. “I am sorry for this decision,” reacted his lawyer Anis Harabi. “We will work on the file and establish his innocence,” he assured.
“Condition victims to accept sexual relations”
Arrested on November 28 during a large-scale operation involving 175 police officers, this 71-year-old Romanian is the founder of the Movement for Spiritual Integration towards the Absolute.
According to a judicial source, the Misa movement, which became Atman during its expansion outside Romania, taught tantric yoga, with the aim of “conditioning victims to accept sexual relations, via mental manipulation techniques aimed at removing any notion of consent “.