Arrest of Guru Bivolaru: rape, human trafficking… A long list of accusations

Wanted by Interpol, the Romanian guru Gregorian Bivolaru was arrested in France, Tuesday November 28, 2023, as part of an anti-sect raid. &Agé 71 years old, he is the subject of numerous accusations.

Vast raid against an international sect of tantric yoga. Tuesday, November 28, no less than 41 people were attacked. arrested and placed in custody seen in France. Among them, a 71-year-old man is suspected of to be the spiritual leader of the Atman Yoga Federation, present in 31 countries including France. Followers nickname him "Grieg", "Grig" ; or "Magnus Aurolsson", his papers indicate the name Gregorian Bivolaru. Concretely, the authorities suspect this Romanian, already condemned à six years in prison in his native country for rape of a minor, for being the leader of a network suspected of to have indoctrinated certain female followers to exploit them sexually, whether to agree to have sexual relations with the guru and/or to “indulge in” sexual activity. pornographic practices paid for in France and abroad abroad,” specifies Ouest-France which echoes the AFP.

Thus, Gregorian Bivolaru is suspect  of "human trafficking", "organized gang kidnapping", "rape" and "abuse of weakness in a gang organized by members of a sect". He now incurs up to 30 years in prison. In France, a judicial investigation was carried out. opened in July 2023 for the various offenses mentioned above, indicates Libération. Judicial information opened on the basis, in particular, of complaints filed by three people claiming to be former victims, reports RFI. At the origin of this case, reports were made to the public body responsible for the investigation. sectarian excesses, the Miviludes, had been made by a dozen ex-followers in July 2022.

Several people claiming to be victims of Gregorian Bivolaru confided to RFI. over the last few weeks, around ten women were generally sequestered simultaneously for several days, in different accommodations located in the Paris region, with the aim of standing at provision of the Romanian guru. The radio adds that it had information that, at the time of the arrest, 26 women were arrested. found on site, some being under influence, specifies Ouest-France.

Gregorian Bivolaru already there. condemned and even internally in the past

According to L'Express, Gregorian Bivolaru would claim to today several tens of thousands of students and other supporters of the across the globe. Today cornered by French justice, the septuagenarian has already been sentenced to death. faces justice at agrave; different occasions in the past. While he had founded in 1972, at At the age of 20, the very first yoga school in Romania, he was quickly the subject of prosecutions, then convictions even leading to his death. his internment in a psychiatric hospital until 1989, indicates L'Express. The end of the communist regime in Romania then allowed his Misa movement to take off, before further pursuits. He was notably involved in indicted in 2004 for sexual assault on a minor and trafficking of minors, again in Romania. Gregorian Bivolaru then fled to Sweden where he had obtained asylum and the name of Magnus Aurolsson.

The Atman Yoga Federation, of which he would be a member. the head therefore, operates in France at a glance. through the Yoga Integral association, specifies RFI. An association present at Paris, Poitiers and Nice. The people arrested were also arrested. stopped simultaneously Paris, Seine-et-Marne, Val-de-Marne and the Alpes-Maritimes this Tuesday.