Court sentences Russian “Jesus” to 12 years

(MENAFN) A Russian court has sentenced Sergey Torop, a former traffic officer who claimed to be the reincarnation of Jesus Christ, to 12 years in a high-security prison. Known to his followers as Vissarion, Torop was found guilty of inflicting psychological and physical harm and exploiting his followers financially.

Torop established the Church of the Last Testament in 1991 in Russia’s Krasnoyarsk region. His sect drew thousands of followers, promoting a strict lifestyle prohibiting meat, alcohol, smoking, swearing, and the use of money. Followers lived as vegetarian subsistence farmers in isolated Siberian settlements.

Alongside Torop, two of his aides, Vladimir Vedernikov and Vadim Redkin, received sentences of 12 and 11 years respectively. All three maintained their innocence during the trial but were ordered to pay 40 million rubles (approximately $511,500) in moral damages.

The charges covered activities between 1991 and 2020, during which investigators concluded that 16 people suffered moral harm, six sustained serious injuries, and one person’s health deteriorated due to the sect’s practices.

The sect first came under scrutiny in early 2020 during probes into corruption and fraud at Istoki School, attended by children of Vissarion’s followers. Later that year, another case was opened after members blocked journalists from filming in the community. In September 2020, Russia’s FSB raided the sect’s compounds, arresting Torop and his associates over allegations of psychological abuse and financial exploitation.

Authorities discovered stashes of jewelry, weapons, sex toys, and cash in multiple currencies during the raid. Although registered as a religious group in 1995, the Church of the Last Testament was later dissolved amid legal actions against its leadership.

The sect gained wider attention in 2012 through a Vice News documentary titled Siberian Cult Leader Thinks He’s Jesus.

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