News from France

 Le Monde published today an article entitled "The drift of a yogi-guru accused of rape in France" ("La dérive d'un yogi-gourou accusé de viols en France").

It is about none other than Gregorian Bivolaru aka Magnus Aurolsson aka Nikolay Petrov, who, as was reported on this blog at the time, was arrested on 28 November 2023 in Paris.
 
The article gives a brief summary of the information already known about this case, while also exposing some new details.

The most important new detail is revealed at the very beginning: the apartment from which the guru was seized by the police is still sealed.

"Three months later, the door of apartment 228, located on the ground floor of a modern, unpretentious building in a private alley in Ivry-sur-Seine (Val-de-Marne), is still locked by large wooden panels. An orange flyer is taped up with thick red tape saying "national police" and "do not open". The leaflet reads: 'Nature of the crime: organised human trafficking, rape and other crimes'. It was here, in this small, dark and now sealed two-room apartment, that Gregorian Bivolaru was arrested in the early hours of 28 November."

It remains a mystery, for now, where MISA filmed "A truthful report about a savage and hateful vandalisation of the place where yoga teacher Gregorian Bivolaru's was" 🔗🔗, the first two episodes of which aired yesterday and today on MISA TV.

Did they film it somewhere else? Did they illegally enter the sealed apartment? Or maybe the MISA TV team can walk through walls?

Old information

- 7 former MISA followers, aged between 30 and 40, of Belgian, Australian, British and Finnish origin, have filed a complaint against Gregorian Bivolaru. 4 of them for rape.
- The raids took place in eight locations in Paris, Villiers-sur-Marne, Vitry-sur-Seine (Val-de-Marne), Vigneux-sur-Seine (Essonne), Buthiers (Seine-et-Marne) and Berre-les-Alpes (Alpes-Maritimes).
- 41 people initially arrested, including 15 (11 men and 4 women), all of Romanian nationality, were charged with "human trafficking, kidnapping" and "abuse of weakness", all as part of an organised group
- 6 defendants currently in pre-trial detention - Gregorian Bivolaru is the only one also charged with "rape" - the others are charged with "complicity in rape".
- 58 women (51 Romanian, none French) released. None have pressed charges.

News

- Franck Dannerolle, head of the OCRVP (Central Office for the Repression of Violence against Persons) is in charge of this case
"Sectarian aberrations are a particularly sensitive area"
"It sometimes takes victims years to realise that what they have experienced is not normal."
"The arrests are the result of a solid investigation that lasted a year and a half."
"We are not dealing with fragile testimonies at all. We have a large number of victims who have confirmed serious incidents."
"We are not the mind police. People are free to believe what they want. But in this case, based on what the victims described, we are convinced that there was mind control and that it was a sectarian movement with abuse.
I have no doubt that we were right to intervene."

- Dominique Tricaud, Gregorian Bivolaru's lawyer, declined to be interviewed, but said "What is special about him is that every time he has been prosecuted, it has been a failure." As a result he is "rather inclined to believe that this case will also be a failure".

- Cosmina Oprea, MISA spokesperson
"These documents [Note - statement signed by the women at the beginning of the visit to the guru], which I am seeing for the first time, have nothing to do with MISA activities.
We are not aware of documents that people sign during private visits."
"The ridiculous explanations that these women "don't realize" they are victims because they have been "brainwashed" are reminiscent of the witch hunts of the Middle Ages, when the very fact that so-called witches" proclaimed their innocence was considered irrefutable proof that they were possessed by the devil."
"We know that in France there is a lot of prejudice against spiritual movements, which have been hastily and unfairly labelled as sects, as well as state-funded anti-sect organisations that justify their existence by generating media scandals or exerting pressure at all levels," says the MISA spokeswoman, implying that Bivolaru's arrest, at a time when the government wants to adopt a bill aimed at strengthening the fight against sectarian aberrations, cannot be a coincidence. Given, she concludes, that there is no justice superior to truth and that divine Truth always triumphs, we are absolutely certain that Gregorian Bivolaru will be acquitted and released."

- The plaintiffs did not wish to be interviewed

- Rodolphe Bosselut, the plaintiffs' lawyer
 "This is an absolutely crazy case, on a par with Scientology", "never seen anything like this".
 "Such conditioning, for so many years... A totalitarian system where you can't say no..."