ParisCNN –
French police this week arrested yoga guru Gregorian Bivolaru and 41 others on charges of kidnapping, rape and human trafficking.
Suspected victims were lured with the promise of a spiritual awakening, only to be indoctrinated and mentally manipulated into engaging in sexual relations with 71-year-old Bivolaru, a forensic source said.
Bivolaru – who already had an Interpol arrest warrant – and the others were arrested in raids in Paris and other parts of France on Tuesday.
According to the source, 26 alleged victims were living in “deplorable” conditions.
Bivolaru founded a network called the Movement for Spiritual Integration into the Absolute (MISA) in Romania in 1990 before becoming known internationally as Atman – the International Federation of Yoga and Meditation, according to French prosecutors and a Bivolaru website.
When contacted by CNN for comment, MISA denied wrongdoing and claimed Bivolaru had not founded Atman or taught yoga since 1995.
A press release attributed to the Atman Federation board and posted on Atman’s website called the arrests a “slanderous witch hunt against genuine spirituality.”
“The Atman Federation is not responsible and not responsible for the personal lives of students and teachers of member schools,” the press release said.
In a press release attributed to MISA Yoga School, also posted on Atman’s website, the French school that was at the center of the raids is described as part of the Atman network but as an “independent entity with its own management and organization “described.
An attorney at the firm representing Bivolaru declined to comment when contacted by CNN on Friday. Citing sources familiar with the case, AFP reported that Bivolaru and others appeared in court on Friday. A source told AFP that Bivolaru said he was “the victim of a political conspiracy.”
In July 2022, a French non-governmental organization (NGO) – Human Rights League – handed over reports from former members of the organization to a government agency that monitors and analyzes cult movements in France.
The following month, Paris prosecutors referred the case to the Central Office for the Suppression of Violence Against People (OCRVP) – a French government agency responsible for investigating suspected cults to determine whether crimes had been committed, the judicial source said.
A judicial source said: “Numerous women of different nationalities claimed to have been victims of the activities of the MISA organization and its leader Gregorian B.”
The judicial source added that the school would lure victims under the guise of tantra yoga, a branch of yoga based on Hindu traditions that involves awakening spirituality through sexuality.
Then the alleged victims said they were mentally manipulated into “accepting sexual relationships designed to suppress any consent to sexual relationships,” the justice source said.
The judicial source said the alleged victims were told that consent was a reflection of ego that prevented them from reaching a state of spiritual awakening.
The victims alleged they were encouraged “to enter into sexual relations with the leader of the group and/or to engage in pornographic practices in France and abroad for payment,” the judicial source said.
A judicial inquiry was opened in July 2023 into allegations of abuse of vulnerable people by a cult member, kidnapping, rape and human trafficking.
The highlight was the major operation launched on Tuesday, which involved a total of 175 French police officers across Paris and several other regions and in which Bivolaru and others were arrested.
Twenty-six alleged victims lived in cramped and unsanitary conditions, the judicial source said.
“We led the investigation and carried out the operation with reinforcement from the Criminal Investigation Department,” an OCRVP spokesperson told CNN. The spokesman said eight locations were searched.
Bivolaru was founded in 1990 in its home country of Romania and later expanded its school network internationally to countries in Europe, North America, South America and Asia.
On the MISA website it describes itself as “the largest yoga school in Europe”. Bivolaru is said to have “encyclopedic knowledge” and “vast practical experience.” MISA describes Bivolaru as the school’s “spiritual mentor.”
“Since 1990, MISA Yoga School has opened yoga classes in more than 250 cities in Romania and 33 other countries,” the website says, adding that the total number of people who have practiced at the school is about 35,000 lies.
“The yoga teachers are selected through theoretical and practical tests and undergo special training,” it continues.
The allegations are just the latest in a series of serious allegations against Bivolaru.
He was convicted of raping a minor in Romania in 2013 and sentenced in absentia to six years in prison. Three years later, in 2016, he was extradited from France.
However, he only served one year and three months of his sentence before he conditionally fled Romania in 2017 and resumed his work as a yoga guru.
He is also on Interpol’s wanted list on charges of aggravated human trafficking in Finland, a crime punishable by 10 years in prison.
Maya Szaniecki reported from Paris and Sophie Tanno reported and wrote in London.