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France arrests guru and 40 others in raids on yoga sect

French authorities on Tuesday arrested 41 people in raids against a controversial yoga sect, including its leader, the Romanian guru Gregorian Bivolaru, a source close to the case told AFP.

France arrests guru and 40 others in raids on yoga sect
Gregorian Bivolaru (L), the spiritual leader of MISA sect, photographed in 2004. Photo by STRINGER / AFP

The sect is accused of numerous abuses under Bivolaru, who has been repeatedly in the crosshairs of judicial authorities in Romania, Sweden and France in the last years, the source said.

The people were arrested in the Paris region and southern France and included other key members of the sect, the source added.

Some 175 police officers were deployed for the operation, during which 26 women – several of whom were held against their will – were freed, the source said.

The network, called Movement for Spiritual Integration into the Absolute (MISA), runs several yoga schools and related operations.

The source said the sect had “several hundred” members, but no precise figure was available.

The arrests follow a probe into the sect launched by Paris prosecutors in July, on suspicion of kidnapping, rape and people trafficking among others.

The investigation was sparked by France’s Human Rights League, a human rights NGO, which contacted the prosecutors’ office after receiving statements from 12 former MISA members, a judiciary source said.

MISA, which became known as Atman after its expansion beyond Romania, taught tantra yoga with the aim of “conditioning victims to accept sexual relations via mental manipulation techniques which sought to eliminate any notion of consent”.

Women were encouraged to accept sexual relations with the group’s leader, and “to agree to participate in fee-paying pornographic practices in France and abroad”, the source said.

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CRIME

Teens charged in France over plot to attack Jewish targets: judicial source

French prosecutors have charged a 19-year-old man and a youth in the Paris region with planning a "terrorist" attack on Jewish targets, a judicial source told AFP on Friday.

Teens charged in France over plot to attack Jewish targets: judicial source

While no details on the pair have been released, French anti-terrorist investigators have expressed increased concern over the young age of some suspects detained in recent months for planning militant attacks.

The 19-year-old has been charged with “terrorist conspiracy” to commit attacks and the “acquisition and possession of arms for a terrorist enterprise,” said the judicial source, speaking on condition of anonymity.

READ ALSO: Anti-Semitism fears stalk Jewish voters’ choice in France

The youth aged under 18 was detained on June 13, the source said.

The pair made contact on social media and were planning a “a violent action notably aiming at Jewish targets,” said the source without giving details on the plot.

Anti-terrorism investigators say a growing number of youths have been held in recent months for preparing attacks.

READ ALSO: French election breakdown: TV debates, polling latest and anti-Semitism

“This is a necessarily worrying phenomenon,” senior anti-terrorist prosecutor Olivier Christen said at an evidentiary hearing on Wednesday.

French politicians have also condemned a growing number of attacks on the country’s Jewish community, the biggest outside Israel and the United States.

Outrage has been expressed over the rape of a 12-year-old Jewish girl in a park in the Paris suburbs last Saturday. Two 13-year-old boys have been charged with rape and making anti-Semitic insults.

Several protest rallies have been held in Paris and other French cities over the case which comes as France prepares for a national election in which the far-right National Rally party is tipped to make major gains. 

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