Siberian cult leader Sergei Torop, who claims to be the reincarnation of Jesus Christ, was sentenced to 12 years in prison for harming the mental and physical health of his followers. A court in the city of Novosibirsk announced that it sentenced Torop, 64, alongside his associates Vladimir Vedernikov, also sentenced to 12 years, and Vadim Redkin, who received 11 years.
Torop, known to his supporters as "Vissarion," was convicted for maintaining a religious organization that violated the civil rights of its members and caused physical harm. The court also awarded the victims and the prosecution compensation of 45 million rubles (approximately 480,000 euros) for "moral damage" caused by Torop and his aides.
The Investigative Committee, a Russian agency similar to the FBI, accused Torop and his assistants of exercising psychological pressure to extort money from the believers. According to state news agency RIA, the three men caused "moral harm" to 16 people, serious physical harm to six people, and moderate harm to one additional person.
Torop and his associates denied the charges against them and denied criminal guilt and wrongdoing. It is currently unclear whether they will appeal the sentences.
A former traffic policeman who lost his job in the Soviet police authorities in 1989, Torop founded the Church of the Last Testament in 1991 after what he described as a divine revelation during a time of poverty and lawlessness in Russia. He claimed to have been "reborn" to convey the Word of God and attracted thousands of followers.
Known as "Vissarion" to his followers, Torop became the center of a cult that mixed beliefs from the Orthodox Church with ideas of environmental protection. Some of his followers went to live in remote settlements in Siberia, known as "Sun City" or the "Abode of Light."
Followers of Torop adopted strict practices. He urged them not to eat meat, not to smoke, not to drink alcohol, not to curse, and not to use money. They also restarted the calendar from the year of his birth, 1961. On his birthday, January 14, they celebrated a feast that replaced Christmas.
In a 2017 BBC documentary, filmmaker Simon Reeve interviewed Torop, who denied any wrongdoing. "I am not God. And it is a mistake to see Jesus as God. But I am the living word of God the Father. Everything God wants to say, He says through me," Torop said, according to Observador.
The documentary showed that female students, whose parents were followers of "Vissarion," were being trained to become "future brides of worthy men." Followers regularly recited prayers in his honor while looking up at his large residence on top of a hill.
Torop was arrested in 2020 during a security forces raid by helicopter, involving the FSB security service, after a police intervention at a community. Investigators said the men caused moderate damage to another person's health.
Among those who joined the cult were "doctors, teachers, colonels of the Red Army, a former minister of Belarus, and pilgrims from Cuba, Bulgaria, Belgium, Australia, and Germany." "Torop used 'psychological violence' for 'other personal interests expressed in the desire to subordinate other people to his authority'," stated the prosecutor's office.
In a 2002 interview with The Guardian, Torop was referred to as "the Jesus of Siberia."
News 247, iefimerida also covered the news.
Produced with the assistance of a news-analysis system.