According to the source, the sect is accused of numerous violations under the leadership of the aforementioned man, who has repeatedly come under the scrutiny of Romanian, Swedish and French law enforcement in recent years.
The source added that other important members of the sect were among those arrested in the Paris region and southern France. It was stated that about 175 police officers participated in the operation, during which 26 women were freed, some of whom were held against their will.
A network called the “Movement for Spiritual Integration into the Absolute” (Movement for Spiritual Integration into the AbsoluteMISA), runs several yoga schools and related activities.
The source said the sect has several hundred members, but did not give an exact number.
The arrests come after Paris prosecutors opened an investigation in July into the sect, which is suspected of kidnapping, rape and human trafficking, among other things.
The investigation was initiated by the League of Human Rights, a French non-governmental human rights organization, which approached the prosecutor’s office after receiving statements from 12 former members of the sect, a judicial source said.
MISA, which became known as Atman when it expanded outside Romania, taught tantric yoga with the aim, the source said, of coercing victims into consenting to sex through psychological manipulation techniques aimed at eliminating any notion of consent.
The women were encouraged to consent to sexual relations with the leader of the group and to participate in paid pornographic activities in France and abroad, the report added.
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2024-08-29 07:22:01
