1 00:00:17,184 --> 00:00:22,481 I wrote the book Yoni Shakti between 2010 and 2012. 2 00:00:22,564 --> 00:00:28,737 And Yoni Shakti is a guide feminine for strength and freedom, 3 00:00:28,820 --> 00:00:30,781 through yoga and tantra. 4 00:00:30,864 --> 00:00:35,327 It's about bringing people back to a respectful reconnection 5 00:00:35,410 --> 00:00:38,497 with the rhythms of the Earth and the vitality of life. 6 00:00:38,580 --> 00:00:41,124 Om 7 00:00:41,208 --> 00:00:45,754 I was interested to see who else connected to these practices. 8 00:00:46,630 --> 00:00:50,676 That's how I discovered school in Denmark. 9 00:00:51,593 --> 00:00:52,970 I thought, "How interesting." 10 00:00:53,053 --> 00:00:56,139 I made a reference to two lines, almost a footnote. 11 00:00:56,223 --> 00:00:58,308 PROGRAM TANTRA-YOGA DANISH 12 00:00:58,392 --> 00:01:02,271 And I didn't think about it again until 2020, 13 00:01:02,354 --> 00:01:07,943 when a reader came in in contact expressing their horror. 14 00:01:08,944 --> 00:01:11,947 Because she had studied at this school 15 00:01:12,030 --> 00:01:15,033 and knew the terrible things that had happened. 16 00:01:15,784 --> 00:01:18,579 From then on, I connected with other people 17 00:01:18,662 --> 00:01:20,581 that they had had similar experiences. 18 00:01:20,664 --> 00:01:23,250 They all said the same things. 19 00:01:25,544 --> 00:01:27,629 I discovered their website, 20 00:01:27,713 --> 00:01:32,676 and a little yoga studio Danish was part of such a 21 00:01:32,759 --> 00:01:35,262 Atman International Federation. 22 00:01:35,345 --> 00:01:36,722 ATMAN AFFILIATE SCHOOLS 23 00:01:37,306 --> 00:01:39,349 There are schools all over the world. 24 00:01:39,725 --> 00:01:42,895 When observed, each one has a different name. 25 00:01:43,896 --> 00:01:45,564 In Romania, it is MISA. 26 00:01:45,647 --> 00:01:47,482 INTEGRATION MOVEMENT SPIRITUAL TO THE ABSOLUTE 27 00:01:47,566 --> 00:01:49,526 In Sweden, it is also Natha Yoga. 28 00:01:49,610 --> 00:01:50,819 SWEDEN NATHA NATHA DENMARK 29 00:01:50,903 --> 00:01:53,363 Then you see Tara in England. 30 00:01:53,989 --> 00:01:55,991 There's no way to know that they have something to do with each other. 31 00:01:56,366 --> 00:01:58,994 At this point, I thought: 32 00:01:59,077 --> 00:02:02,414 "Oh my God. 33 00:02:02,497 --> 00:02:03,832 It's everywhere." 34 00:02:04,958 --> 00:02:05,959 It was my life. 35 00:02:06,043 --> 00:02:07,878 Okay, it was with me ten years ago, 36 00:02:07,961 --> 00:02:10,380 but there are still women going through this now. 37 00:02:10,464 --> 00:02:13,175 They claimed it was consensual 38 00:02:13,258 --> 00:02:14,760 and they painted me as a liar. 39 00:02:15,219 --> 00:02:18,472 You had sex with any MISA followers? 40 00:02:18,555 --> 00:02:21,308 I wanted to move, get out of position, 41 00:02:21,391 --> 00:02:23,477 and he grabbed both my wrists 42 00:02:23,560 --> 00:02:25,646 and the feet on the bed, like: "Be quiet." 43 00:02:26,104 --> 00:02:28,357 The feeling was: "I have to get out of here." 44 00:02:28,440 --> 00:02:30,025 I couldn't take it anymore. 45 00:02:31,026 --> 00:02:32,152 He is 46 00:02:32,236 --> 00:02:34,404 pictured as sexually obsessed. 47 00:02:34,780 --> 00:02:36,240 That's what we see in the files. 48 00:02:36,323 --> 00:02:38,951 Paris. Romania. Guru. Sect. 49 00:02:39,034 --> 00:02:40,327 Ashleigh's statement. 50 00:02:40,410 --> 00:02:41,954 He was the missing piece. 51 00:02:42,037 --> 00:02:42,996 See how they get tangled up. 52 00:02:45,832 --> 00:02:47,084 It started and ended 53 00:02:47,876 --> 00:02:49,086 with him. 54 00:02:55,342 --> 00:03:02,224 THE SECRET YOGA SECT 55 00:03:04,101 --> 00:03:10,941 CHAPTER THREE THE GURU 56 00:03:13,485 --> 00:03:15,487 HORSHAM, AUSTRALIA 57 00:03:15,571 --> 00:03:18,198 In July 2019, when you leave Paris 58 00:03:19,157 --> 00:03:20,409 ASH JOINED IN 2018, ENGLAND 59 00:03:20,492 --> 00:03:23,203 I think I knew there was sexual abuse, but there was no, 60 00:03:23,287 --> 00:03:26,081 at that time, together the pieces of human trafficking. 61 00:03:27,040 --> 00:03:31,336 But I was in a constant reading fever. 62 00:03:31,420 --> 00:03:35,257 I was getting really obsessed for understanding more and more. 63 00:03:36,925 --> 00:03:39,136 The school was still in session, everything was fine. 64 00:03:39,219 --> 00:03:41,763 And I knew it, every day, more and more women 65 00:03:41,847 --> 00:03:44,683 went through the same things and were sent to Paris. 66 00:03:47,519 --> 00:03:48,770 ZIGGY ENTERED IN 2016, DENMARK 67 00:03:48,854 --> 00:03:50,480 Ashleigh came to me 68 00:03:50,564 --> 00:03:54,359 and basically revealed why he had left school. 69 00:03:55,652 --> 00:03:58,447 I was like, "What Is the fuck going on?" 70 00:03:59,573 --> 00:04:03,368 So, I compared the main coordinators from Sweden, 71 00:04:04,077 --> 00:04:06,413 and they only said: "It's all lies." 72 00:04:07,998 --> 00:04:11,293 I think he thought he could cause some change inside, 73 00:04:11,376 --> 00:04:14,338 and that people might understand, free themselves from Bivolaru 74 00:04:14,421 --> 00:04:16,548 and continue the good parts of school. 75 00:04:16,632 --> 00:04:20,177 He couldn't identify that Bivolaru was the school. 76 00:04:21,845 --> 00:04:23,347 The answer was: 77 00:04:23,430 --> 00:04:26,683 "Our belief is so strong that we will do whatever it takes 78 00:04:26,767 --> 00:04:29,144 and we will support you no matter what." 79 00:04:29,603 --> 00:04:31,939 At that moment, I felt a shiver 80 00:04:32,022 --> 00:04:33,899 and a cold passing through me, and I thought: 81 00:04:33,982 --> 00:04:38,737 "This is the kind of indoctrination that makes people drink the Kool-Aid. 82 00:04:38,820 --> 00:04:41,990 It is the type ideology Their Jonestown 83 00:04:42,991 --> 00:04:45,410 'You are aligned to this individual 84 00:04:45,494 --> 00:04:50,666 to the point of doing anything, at any cost, to protect him?'" 85 00:04:50,749 --> 00:04:55,087 I was very scared, I thought: "Fuck. Those are gone." 86 00:04:56,004 --> 00:05:01,093 It was around May 2020 87 00:05:01,760 --> 00:05:03,804 that I went public for the first time. 88 00:05:03,887 --> 00:05:07,182 Hi, I'm Ashleigh, owner of the page of awareness about sects. 89 00:05:07,266 --> 00:05:08,642 It is the first story that 90 00:05:08,725 --> 00:05:12,271 I was very afraid of being judged or misinterpreted. 91 00:05:12,354 --> 00:05:13,981 At the time, I was very scared, 92 00:05:14,064 --> 00:05:16,233 still trying understand what had happened 93 00:05:16,316 --> 00:05:18,694 and I wasn't sure how he was, how he felt. 94 00:05:18,777 --> 00:05:20,904 I was a little hesitant 95 00:05:20,988 --> 00:05:24,241 about making sure you had something wrong and having left a sect. 96 00:05:24,324 --> 00:05:28,745 At other times, I asked myself if I was wrong to leave 97 00:05:28,829 --> 00:05:31,498 and if, perhaps, it would have abandoned a spiritual path. 98 00:05:31,582 --> 00:05:33,750 But I felt a need to� 99 00:05:33,834 --> 00:05:35,043 I needed to say something. 100 00:05:35,127 --> 00:05:36,920 Ask teachers: 101 00:05:37,004 --> 00:05:40,841 "You send women to be initiated with the guru? 102 00:05:40,924 --> 00:05:41,925 Does that happen?” 103 00:05:42,009 --> 00:05:44,011 See how they get tangled up. Or they will deny 104 00:05:44,094 --> 00:05:46,305 I thought I would feel really silly 105 00:05:46,388 --> 00:05:48,891 if simply went to the police station and said: 106 00:05:48,974 --> 00:05:52,352 "Hey, this thing happened to me in France. Can you help me?" 107 00:05:52,436 --> 00:05:54,313 I felt silly. I didn't know where to go. 108 00:05:55,939 --> 00:05:59,318 STROUD, ENGLAND 109 00:06:02,070 --> 00:06:05,240 When I heard people's experience 110 00:06:05,324 --> 00:06:07,451 in the first school, in Scandinavia, 111 00:06:07,534 --> 00:06:11,038 they put me in touch with Ashleigh Freckleton. 112 00:06:11,121 --> 00:06:12,331 And what she sent me, 113 00:06:12,414 --> 00:06:14,124 I never forgot. I received it well here. 114 00:06:14,208 --> 00:06:15,792 A DINSMORE-TULI AUTHOR AND ACTIVIST 115 00:06:15,876 --> 00:06:19,004 I remember getting the email, and it was her statement. 116 00:06:21,507 --> 00:06:26,678 "The photo was taken the night before to my trafficking to another country, 117 00:06:26,762 --> 00:06:29,223 to, for lack of a better word, a sect." 118 00:06:29,848 --> 00:06:31,808 The people don't go to yoga classes 119 00:06:31,892 --> 00:06:33,685 because they want do evil in the world. 120 00:06:33,769 --> 00:06:36,146 They are searching of personal growth, 121 00:06:36,230 --> 00:06:39,107 to be better human beings. That's why she was there. 122 00:06:39,191 --> 00:06:43,237 And there she was, in the middle from London, a very vibrant young woman, 123 00:06:43,320 --> 00:06:45,697 which was completely destroyed for this experience. 124 00:06:45,781 --> 00:06:48,825 It's perversity to do that, isn't it? 125 00:06:50,160 --> 00:06:53,163 Uma wanted to publish my testimony anonymously. 126 00:06:53,247 --> 00:06:55,749 'NOT CONSENT IF YOU ARE AFRAID TO SAY NO.' 127 00:06:55,832 --> 00:06:58,168 It was the first time I felt like she gave me a voice. 128 00:06:58,252 --> 00:07:01,713 On a larger scale. But then they went after her. 129 00:07:03,507 --> 00:07:08,595 In April 2021, I received a notification, a legal letter. 130 00:07:09,346 --> 00:07:12,641 Basically it says that all the allegations I made are 131 00:07:12,724 --> 00:07:14,852 "false, defamatory, serious." 132 00:07:14,935 --> 00:07:18,397 And that they would cause, to their client, "Loss of potential students, 133 00:07:18,480 --> 00:07:21,900 serious financial losses." This is the main concern. 134 00:07:22,442 --> 00:07:25,445 At first, I think I felt disbelief, 135 00:07:26,613 --> 00:07:28,949 and then I was simply terrified. 136 00:07:29,324 --> 00:07:31,952 They want me to tell them 137 00:07:32,035 --> 00:07:35,205 "the identity and whereabouts from all the parties that provided me 138 00:07:35,289 --> 00:07:38,709 the information to do the defamatory allegations." 139 00:07:38,792 --> 00:07:42,546 They want to go after the survivors. That's the deal, isn't it? 140 00:07:44,047 --> 00:07:47,593 In the whole process, I ended up going to court three times, 141 00:07:47,676 --> 00:07:51,763 and it lasted about two years until it is completed. 142 00:07:52,639 --> 00:07:57,603 In the end, the judge decided that they had missed the deadline 143 00:07:57,686 --> 00:08:00,105 and that there were so many procedural errors 144 00:08:00,189 --> 00:08:03,233 that I got extinguish the demand, 145 00:08:03,317 --> 00:08:04,568 and she could not proceed. 146 00:08:06,403 --> 00:08:07,946 It was a disaster. 147 00:08:08,030 --> 00:08:09,615 Financially disastrous, yes. 148 00:08:10,365 --> 00:08:12,034 But I kept thinking, you know? 149 00:08:12,117 --> 00:08:17,206 The stress I was under was nothing compared to the deep suffering 150 00:08:17,289 --> 00:08:19,374 whereby those young people had passed. 151 00:08:23,086 --> 00:08:26,757 What I felt was a disgusting feeling 152 00:08:26,840 --> 00:08:29,676 that these teachings essentially good 153 00:08:29,760 --> 00:08:33,889 had been distorted to serve 154 00:08:36,015 --> 00:08:38,268 It's greed for power 155 00:08:40,229 --> 00:08:44,691 of the person who was responsible, who taught them. 156 00:08:53,450 --> 00:08:56,745 People didn't talk about him as a human being, 157 00:08:56,828 --> 00:08:58,539 it was more like a spiritual being. 158 00:09:00,874 --> 00:09:02,793 We would be very encouraged to see you 159 00:09:02,876 --> 00:09:07,089 as someone enlightened, elevated and 160 00:09:07,172 --> 00:09:09,132 ANDREA JOINED IN 2014, SWEDEN 161 00:09:09,216 --> 00:09:10,968 That he only taught the truth. 162 00:09:12,386 --> 00:09:15,097 Almost as if he were Jesus. 163 00:09:16,890 --> 00:09:19,518 I knew that school originated in Romania. 164 00:09:19,601 --> 00:09:21,687 They told me: 165 00:09:21,770 --> 00:09:25,649 "It's better not to even research him, because there is one" 166 00:09:25,732 --> 00:09:27,401 MIRANDA ENTERED IN 2017, ENGLAND 167 00:09:27,484 --> 00:09:30,237 "long history with Romania and religious persecution. 168 00:09:30,320 --> 00:09:33,365 He started teaching yoga when it was illegal. 169 00:09:33,824 --> 00:09:38,912 He was persecuted and demonized by the Romanian authorities. 170 00:09:38,996 --> 00:09:41,123 You will only find this. 171 00:09:41,206 --> 00:09:43,208 So it's not even worth it." 172 00:09:46,211 --> 00:09:50,132 BUCHAREST, ROMANIA 173 00:09:51,717 --> 00:09:54,178 This is a neighborhood Bucharest peripheral 174 00:09:54,261 --> 00:09:55,470 called Ferentari. 175 00:09:56,722 --> 00:09:59,892 We know this because houses 176 00:09:59,975 --> 00:10:03,103 used as ashrams by the MISA group 177 00:10:03,187 --> 00:10:06,815 were located, mostly on these streets. 178 00:10:12,070 --> 00:10:14,489 You can see there are no windows or are they small? 179 00:10:14,573 --> 00:10:16,325 ANDREEA POCOTILA INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER 180 00:10:16,408 --> 00:10:17,451 Very high fences. 181 00:10:17,534 --> 00:10:20,078 Many have satellite antennas very large. 182 00:10:20,787 --> 00:10:23,373 And in 2004, 183 00:10:23,999 --> 00:10:27,961 the police received information that many other things were happening 184 00:10:28,045 --> 00:10:33,175 inside these houses in addition to normal yoga classes. 185 00:10:34,760 --> 00:10:35,677 MARCH 18, 2004 186 00:10:35,761 --> 00:10:39,973 At the time, I was the promoter assigned to care 187 00:10:40,057 --> 00:10:41,183 MARIAN DELCEA PROSECUTOR 188 00:10:41,266 --> 00:10:43,018 of the investigation of the Bivolaru case. 189 00:10:48,106 --> 00:10:53,403 The police had received many complaints from parents 190 00:10:53,946 --> 00:10:59,243 who told the authorities that the daughters had disappeared, 191 00:11:00,160 --> 00:11:02,663 because they had entered for this movement, MISA. 192 00:11:04,373 --> 00:11:08,252 They were worried about their daughters 193 00:11:08,335 --> 00:11:13,131 suddenly become part of a movement, of a sect, 194 00:11:13,215 --> 00:11:17,719 and end up breaking up with the family 195 00:11:17,803 --> 00:11:20,097 without a very clear explanation. 196 00:11:21,682 --> 00:11:23,976 Beyond the fact of believing 197 00:11:24,059 --> 00:11:27,437 than many minors lived in those ashrams, 198 00:11:27,521 --> 00:11:31,108 the police told the press who had information 199 00:11:31,191 --> 00:11:35,404 that human trafficking could be happening. 200 00:11:35,487 --> 00:11:38,574 What could there be organized crime activities. 201 00:11:45,664 --> 00:11:48,584 There were some surprises when we enter. 202 00:11:58,343 --> 00:12:03,056 I expected to meet people of the criminal underworld. 203 00:12:03,140 --> 00:12:08,061 Some big, muscular guys. 204 00:12:08,145 --> 00:12:09,563 But no. 205 00:12:16,195 --> 00:12:21,533 The women responded to all the questions with silence. 206 00:12:30,125 --> 00:12:32,002 I didn't feel like they were free. 207 00:12:33,086 --> 00:12:36,507 Sincerely, I can say I was shocked. 208 00:12:40,677 --> 00:12:44,097 There were about 20 beds. 209 00:12:44,181 --> 00:12:49,102 Fifteen of them, if not more, they had, at the head, 210 00:12:49,186 --> 00:12:51,188 a photo of Bivolaru. 211 00:13:05,619 --> 00:13:12,084 I was born in Transylvania, which I consider a captivating and magical place. 212 00:13:13,335 --> 00:13:14,670 AGNES ENTERED IN 1999, ROMANIA 213 00:13:14,753 --> 00:13:18,882 I discovered yoga through from my mother's acquaintances, 214 00:13:18,966 --> 00:13:22,094 who sought spirituality. 215 00:13:24,221 --> 00:13:26,682 It was a more attractive world 216 00:13:26,765 --> 00:13:31,353 to which the Romanians they didn't have access before, 217 00:13:31,436 --> 00:13:34,189 because, in communism, the mentality was more closed 218 00:13:34,273 --> 00:13:36,608 and we didn't have access to this information. 219 00:13:38,694 --> 00:13:39,987 ROMANIAN REPUBLIC 220 00:13:40,070 --> 00:13:45,784 After communism, people they needed to hold on to something, 221 00:13:45,868 --> 00:13:48,871 needed something what to believe. 222 00:13:48,954 --> 00:13:53,041 To place your hopes and illusions in another person. 223 00:13:57,254 --> 00:14:01,758 I was about 11 or 12 years old when my mother started taking classes. 224 00:14:01,842 --> 00:14:04,803 I wanted to participate, I was curious. 225 00:14:07,306 --> 00:14:13,312 It was very captivating to discover that there was a spiritual guru 226 00:14:13,395 --> 00:14:17,733 who had created the yoga school. 227 00:14:17,816 --> 00:14:21,486 Someone with answers for all our questions. 228 00:14:23,655 --> 00:14:28,452 The simple fact that I was there, close to the great master, 229 00:14:28,535 --> 00:14:33,081 seemed sacred experience something so intimate. 230 00:14:36,376 --> 00:14:42,549 The girls saw Grieg like the supreme Shiva, 231 00:14:42,633 --> 00:14:45,427 symbol of masculinity and masculine energy. 232 00:14:45,969 --> 00:14:52,684 As a 15 year old girl, too I began to see him as a god. 233 00:15:00,692 --> 00:15:05,197 Even after, When the investigation began, 234 00:15:05,280 --> 00:15:08,867 we were still indoctrinated with the idea 235 00:15:09,409 --> 00:15:13,413 that people outside they wanted to harm us. 236 00:15:15,332 --> 00:15:18,544 That there was a conspiracy against us because we are very spiritual. 237 00:15:21,421 --> 00:15:24,174 Soon after of the crashes that happened, 238 00:15:24,258 --> 00:15:28,762 MISA started to build defense and organizing protests. 239 00:15:30,472 --> 00:15:35,352 And there, right in the middle of all the rage, when all eyes were on MISA, 240 00:15:38,272 --> 00:15:40,607 Gregorian Bivolaru decided to appear 241 00:15:40,691 --> 00:15:43,235 on a very popular TV show, Marius Tuca� 242 00:15:43,777 --> 00:15:46,405 a few days after the raids. 243 00:15:51,326 --> 00:15:53,787 MARCH 25, 2004 244 00:15:53,871 --> 00:15:54,997 MISA SCANDAL 245 00:15:55,080 --> 00:15:56,373 Good night. 246 00:15:56,456 --> 00:15:58,792 I would like to say, from the beginning, 247 00:15:58,876 --> 00:16:02,087 that I am not the leader of MISA, 248 00:16:02,171 --> 00:16:05,591 but just the mentor of this movement. 249 00:16:05,966 --> 00:16:07,426 Why is he called a guru? 250 00:16:07,509 --> 00:16:14,349 I'm only called a guru by the press and for those who try to belittle me. 251 00:16:14,433 --> 00:16:16,727 I always considered myself 252 00:16:16,810 --> 00:16:20,522 the yoga teacher Gregorian Bivolaru. 253 00:16:20,606 --> 00:16:25,110 You had sex with any MISA supporters? 254 00:16:25,194 --> 00:16:27,821 I never have sex with anyone, 255 00:16:27,905 --> 00:16:30,657 why have sex It's something degrading. 256 00:16:30,741 --> 00:16:34,203 made love with someone follower of MISA? 257 00:16:34,286 --> 00:16:37,664 Did I make love? Yes, I made love. 258 00:16:38,248 --> 00:16:43,462 Not sexually degrading, but natural loving relationships, 259 00:16:43,545 --> 00:16:48,133 as we all know, based in love and mutual respect. 260 00:16:52,054 --> 00:16:57,768 I was initiated in early 2000. 261 00:16:59,436 --> 00:17:01,396 I was a virgin. 262 00:17:03,273 --> 00:17:06,777 I'm not going in in many details, 263 00:17:06,859 --> 00:17:10,405 but it wasn't very special. 264 00:17:10,489 --> 00:17:13,450 I felt no pleasure, quite the opposite. 265 00:17:14,742 --> 00:17:18,664 I remember the bed was full of blood, but he didn't bother. 266 00:17:20,165 --> 00:17:24,377 I remember the tears running down my face. 267 00:17:29,341 --> 00:17:32,553 I was 15 years and six months old, yeah. 268 00:17:37,766 --> 00:17:41,812 Everything is manifested, everything is harmony. 269 00:17:41,895 --> 00:17:47,693 God is the supreme creator of everything that exists. 270 00:17:47,776 --> 00:17:51,488 We must know him as deeply as possible 271 00:17:51,572 --> 00:17:55,325 through the practice of yoga, to reach the divine state. 272 00:17:56,368 --> 00:17:59,830 He had a certain charisma. 273 00:17:59,913 --> 00:18:06,420 But it wasn't physical charisma. He was never an attractive man. 274 00:18:07,629 --> 00:18:13,302 We constantly transfigured it and we put him on a pedestal. 275 00:18:15,262 --> 00:18:21,852 Okay, I'll do it for those who follow me, for a minute. 276 00:18:21,935 --> 00:18:24,605 I will create a state of happiness 277 00:18:24,688 --> 00:18:29,818 for those open to receiving. 278 00:18:29,902 --> 00:18:34,573 Through my connection with spheres infinite beneficial force 279 00:18:34,656 --> 00:18:35,991 that exist in the macrocosm. 280 00:18:36,575 --> 00:18:38,827 I'll start now. 281 00:18:38,911 --> 00:18:43,874 He said he would broadcast a state of absolute happiness 282 00:18:43,957 --> 00:18:49,004 to open spectators to believe in his philosophy. 283 00:19:00,641 --> 00:19:03,227 We started laughing when we saw it. 284 00:19:07,523 --> 00:19:12,861 You began to wonder if this man I was fine from a mental point of view. 285 00:19:18,909 --> 00:19:20,661 ANGERS, FRANCE 286 00:19:20,744 --> 00:19:22,746 Combat 287 00:19:22,829 --> 00:19:26,625 certain types of movements and sects for many years. 288 00:19:27,209 --> 00:19:28,961 HUGUES GASCAN SECT RESEARCHER 289 00:19:29,044 --> 00:19:32,756 That's how I got interested by MISA. 290 00:19:36,510 --> 00:19:38,887 I wanted to understand the modus operandi. 291 00:19:38,971 --> 00:19:42,015 What was happening with MISA in France. 292 00:19:42,391 --> 00:19:46,186 And I started reading and investigating slowly. 293 00:19:47,020 --> 00:19:50,274 It was very well organized and always the same. 294 00:19:52,776 --> 00:19:56,905 They organized a kind of strategy 295 00:19:56,989 --> 00:20:01,535 in which they asked women from all parts of the world, 296 00:20:01,618 --> 00:20:02,995 except from France, 297 00:20:03,078 --> 00:20:05,122 let them come To France for initiation, 298 00:20:05,205 --> 00:20:08,417 to improve development their staff and such. 299 00:20:11,170 --> 00:20:13,922 After that, they returned to their countries. 300 00:20:14,715 --> 00:20:18,927 When you are 1,000 km away, What can you do? Nothing. 301 00:20:22,347 --> 00:20:23,807 It's hard to accept 302 00:20:23,891 --> 00:20:28,270 that someone is completely under someone else's control. 303 00:20:29,188 --> 00:20:33,734 Firstly, you will definitely needs testimonies from victims. 304 00:20:34,484 --> 00:20:37,070 And it was a kind of protection for Bivolaru 305 00:20:37,154 --> 00:20:40,282 have no complaints, in France, of French victims. 306 00:20:41,491 --> 00:20:44,995 I had reported it to Royal Charity Commission in the United Kingdom. 307 00:20:45,537 --> 00:20:47,122 Nothing had happened. 308 00:20:47,748 --> 00:20:51,001 I had informed to Crime Stoppers International 309 00:20:51,084 --> 00:20:53,086 and I followed it a couple of times, 310 00:20:53,170 --> 00:20:56,882 but it never went ahead. No one ever answered me, 311 00:20:56,965 --> 00:20:59,885 no one ever seemed wanting to hear my testimony. 312 00:21:00,552 --> 00:21:03,347 SEPTEMBER 2021 313 00:21:03,430 --> 00:21:05,807 I put some warnings on my computer. 314 00:21:06,767 --> 00:21:09,937 Paris. Romania. Guru. Sect. 315 00:21:10,020 --> 00:21:11,104 SEARCH 316 00:21:11,480 --> 00:21:13,774 And then I found 317 00:21:13,857 --> 00:21:16,610 a subject in a Australian newspaper. 318 00:21:17,110 --> 00:21:20,155 Paris. Romania. Guru. Sect. 319 00:21:20,239 --> 00:21:22,032 Ashleigh's statement. 320 00:21:22,407 --> 00:21:24,743 ASHLEIGH FRECKLETON SURVIVED A CECT. 321 00:21:24,826 --> 00:21:25,827 "Hi, Ashleigh, 322 00:21:26,954 --> 00:21:29,414 I would like to introduce myself" 323 00:21:30,374 --> 00:21:33,627 It's actually quite crazy, because, from my point of view, 324 00:21:33,710 --> 00:21:36,255 at that moment, he was Just a random guy from France. 325 00:21:37,673 --> 00:21:38,799 Even so, 326 00:21:38,882 --> 00:21:42,344 he was the missing piece to connect me to the foreign police. 327 00:21:44,096 --> 00:21:48,267 I contacted Ashleigh and I passed on her testimony 328 00:21:48,350 --> 00:21:50,769 for the police department 329 00:21:50,853 --> 00:21:55,357 responsible for what happens in terms of sects in France. 330 00:21:57,276 --> 00:22:00,654 PARIS, FRANCE 331 00:22:01,947 --> 00:22:05,534 SECT CRIMES UNIT, FRENCH NATIONAL POLICE 332 00:22:05,617 --> 00:22:09,454 We knew there was some problems 333 00:22:09,538 --> 00:22:13,375 with this movement, but before 2021, 334 00:22:13,458 --> 00:22:16,587 we still haven't really started investigating. 335 00:22:17,212 --> 00:22:21,008 FRANCK DANNEROLLE, CHIEF SUPERINTENDENT FRENCH NATIONAL POLICE 336 00:22:21,091 --> 00:22:23,677 The crucial first step It's listening to the victims. 337 00:22:24,511 --> 00:22:29,433 Caimades, a unit very specialized anti-sect, 338 00:22:29,975 --> 00:22:34,021 He came to me and said he wanted receive my testimony orally. 339 00:22:35,063 --> 00:22:38,400 They asked if I wanted open a formal complaint. 340 00:22:38,483 --> 00:22:39,484 And I said yes. 341 00:22:41,361 --> 00:22:44,865 We realized that there was a clear possibility 342 00:22:44,948 --> 00:22:48,243 by Gregorian Bivolaru be on French soil. 343 00:22:49,453 --> 00:22:51,955 But it was something very delicate, because there was a risk 344 00:22:52,039 --> 00:22:53,957 that Gregorian Bivolaru escaped. 345 00:22:54,041 --> 00:22:59,171 And with the network I had set up, he would have disappeared. 346 00:23:06,470 --> 00:23:10,349 Gregorian Bivolaru is being tried on five charges. 347 00:23:10,432 --> 00:23:13,560 They include various sexual crimes, 348 00:23:13,644 --> 00:23:15,771 sexual corruption, child trafficking, 349 00:23:15,854 --> 00:23:21,693 sexual relations with minors and attempted of crossing borders illegally. 350 00:23:21,777 --> 00:23:25,906 After the beats, Gregorian Bivolaru denied all accusations. 351 00:23:26,490 --> 00:23:29,910 What do you intend to do now? Are you going to try to hide? 352 00:23:29,993 --> 00:23:33,413 No, I won't try to hide. I have no reason to hide. 353 00:23:33,497 --> 00:23:37,793 But there is a judgment started and he disappeared. 354 00:23:37,876 --> 00:23:39,795 He didn't appear in court. 355 00:23:40,921 --> 00:23:42,798 The next news we had 356 00:23:42,881 --> 00:23:46,343 was that Gregorian Bivolaru had appeared somewhere in Sweden. 357 00:23:47,302 --> 00:23:48,804 Captured! Bivolaru, 358 00:23:48,887 --> 00:23:52,057 the most wanted Romanian in recent times time, he was detained in Sweden. 359 00:23:53,600 --> 00:23:55,310 It was only 15 years ago 360 00:23:55,394 --> 00:23:56,728 GREGORIAN BIVOLARU ASYLUM 361 00:23:56,812 --> 00:23:58,814 since the fall of the communist regime. 362 00:23:58,897 --> 00:24:00,190 SWEDEN ASYLUM IN BIVOLARU 363 00:24:01,942 --> 00:24:07,364 So, MISA used an argument which was still sensitive in Romania. 364 00:24:07,447 --> 00:24:11,702 They said that Romania it was still a corrupt country, 365 00:24:11,785 --> 00:24:15,080 a country in which the police used force. 366 00:24:15,163 --> 00:24:17,958 Everything to convince 367 00:24:18,041 --> 00:24:21,461 the Swedish authorities to refuse the extradition request. 368 00:24:21,545 --> 00:24:23,755 Hard blow to Justice. 369 00:24:23,839 --> 00:24:26,133 Gregorian Bivolaru cannot be extradited. 370 00:24:26,216 --> 00:24:28,969 This is what the Supreme Court in Stockholm decided today. 371 00:24:29,887 --> 00:24:32,431 Swedish judges feared that the spiritual leader of MISA 372 00:24:32,514 --> 00:24:34,349 would be persecuted in Romania. 373 00:24:34,933 --> 00:24:39,479 In 2004, he fled from Romania and went to Sweden. 374 00:24:40,314 --> 00:24:42,566 Officially, he lived in Sweden, 375 00:24:42,649 --> 00:24:46,820 but there is evidence that, since at least 2007, 376 00:24:46,904 --> 00:24:49,448 he has come It's France and stayed here. 377 00:24:59,249 --> 00:25:02,127 Everything I did I was very connected to the school. 378 00:25:02,211 --> 00:25:03,545 ANDREA JOINED IN 2014, SWEDEN 379 00:25:03,629 --> 00:25:06,173 It was my life for a good few years. 380 00:25:08,717 --> 00:25:12,721 Then I started dating people from outside the school, 381 00:25:12,804 --> 00:25:17,392 I met someone and I had a baby, so my focus changed. 382 00:25:19,686 --> 00:25:23,106 I was quite disappointed, because there wasn't much understanding 383 00:25:23,190 --> 00:25:29,488 that life with a baby It requires enormous dedication and energy. 384 00:25:29,571 --> 00:25:31,907 I felt quite abandoned. 385 00:25:35,118 --> 00:25:38,455 I was dedicating myself of body and soul to motherhood. 386 00:25:38,539 --> 00:25:40,958 A friend called me and said: 387 00:25:41,041 --> 00:25:45,045 "Look, I want to tell you some things." 388 00:25:47,297 --> 00:25:49,800 My friend came here one night, sat on the sofa 389 00:25:49,883 --> 00:25:51,885 MENG ENTERED IN 2013, SWEDEN 390 00:25:51,969 --> 00:25:57,349 and started telling me stories of women with horrible experiences. 391 00:25:59,560 --> 00:26:02,479 For me, I had entered because I wanted to. 392 00:26:02,563 --> 00:26:04,565 I really wanted it. 393 00:26:04,648 --> 00:26:08,735 So I never felt like I had to do something against my will. 394 00:26:08,819 --> 00:26:11,613 It was 100% my choice. 395 00:26:15,242 --> 00:26:17,202 But at the same time, 396 00:26:17,286 --> 00:26:22,958 there was enormous veiled pressure for many people to do things 397 00:26:23,041 --> 00:26:27,379 against themselves, against their will and limits. 398 00:26:27,462 --> 00:26:30,090 Because, in fact, there was no such security 399 00:26:30,174 --> 00:26:33,719 to say, "Actually, I don't want to do that." 400 00:26:40,309 --> 00:26:44,605 Webcams were something very recent 401 00:26:44,688 --> 00:26:48,317 when I arrived at the MISA center. 402 00:26:50,444 --> 00:26:55,991 Officially, I couldn't do it work with webcams because I was smaller, 403 00:26:56,074 --> 00:26:59,703 but was considered completely It's normal to make some appearances 404 00:26:59,786 --> 00:27:02,080 with passport of other girls. 405 00:27:02,164 --> 00:27:06,084 If you looked alike, could do anything. 406 00:27:06,168 --> 00:27:07,628 WEBCAM IMAGE OF AGNES, C. 2002 407 00:27:07,711 --> 00:27:09,338 WITH EYES DOWN, AVOIDING THE CAMERA, 408 00:27:09,421 --> 00:27:11,173 EVOKE INNOCENCE AND SUBTLE SEDUCTION 409 00:27:11,256 --> 00:27:15,093 That's when I understood the magnitude. I saw that they had about 40 ashrams. 410 00:27:15,177 --> 00:27:20,432 They bought entire buildings, the headquarters and hotels in Costine?ti. 411 00:27:20,516 --> 00:27:25,229 I understood that all the prosperity of this "non-profit" organization 412 00:27:25,312 --> 00:27:28,941 it came from websites and webcams. 413 00:27:33,320 --> 00:27:36,657 PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC 414 00:27:36,740 --> 00:27:39,493 I signed a contract, they took a photo. 415 00:27:40,244 --> 00:27:42,621 And they said that one of the reasons 416 00:27:42,704 --> 00:27:44,873 MIRANDA, RELAXED, WITH AN INVITING LOOK, 417 00:27:44,957 --> 00:27:46,959 POSE FOR A PHOTO WEBCAM PROFILE 418 00:27:47,042 --> 00:27:53,006 for the place to be so special it was that the profit from the site went to him. 419 00:27:53,590 --> 00:27:54,758 I was going to Grieg. 420 00:28:00,097 --> 00:28:04,351 In terms of our growth and development at school, 421 00:28:05,519 --> 00:28:07,479 It started and ended with Grieg. 422 00:28:07,563 --> 00:28:10,315 BUCHAREST, ROMANIA 423 00:28:10,399 --> 00:28:13,777 Many school teachers 424 00:28:13,861 --> 00:28:18,991 they were incredibly intelligent and charismatic. 425 00:28:19,074 --> 00:28:23,245 And they were all very devoted That human being. 426 00:28:25,581 --> 00:28:29,459 But anyone familiar with the yin-yang symbol 427 00:28:29,543 --> 00:28:33,922 Know that in every light there is always a drop of darkness. 428 00:28:35,924 --> 00:28:39,678 As in all darkness there is always a drop of light. 429 00:28:41,555 --> 00:28:43,182 I think I assumed 430 00:28:43,265 --> 00:28:46,518 Let the darkness drop in it it was very small. 431 00:28:48,228 --> 00:28:50,898 But for everything that was discovered, 432 00:28:50,981 --> 00:28:54,776 maybe the drop of darkness is much larger than we assume. 433 00:28:59,364 --> 00:29:01,700 MISA and Gregorian Bivolaru 434 00:29:01,783 --> 00:29:08,290 always presented it both as victim and as hero. 435 00:29:10,501 --> 00:29:14,838 That he was always oppressed, attacked, harassed, 436 00:29:14,922 --> 00:29:17,257 arrested, tortured, assaulted 437 00:29:19,259 --> 00:29:23,722 by the old police Romania's secret. 438 00:29:23,805 --> 00:29:25,516 Her name is Securitate. 439 00:29:26,058 --> 00:29:28,727 ARCHIVES SECURITATE (SECRET POLICE) 440 00:29:32,105 --> 00:29:35,526 During the communist regime, we really live 441 00:29:35,609 --> 00:29:39,279 in a closed society and totalitarian. That's true. 442 00:29:41,156 --> 00:29:47,788 But now, years later, we can search these files 443 00:29:47,871 --> 00:29:50,207 and see what really happened. 444 00:29:52,417 --> 00:29:57,381 FILE - INFORMATION SHEET ABOUT GREGORIAN BIVOLARU 445 00:30:04,137 --> 00:30:05,931 The first mention 446 00:30:07,391 --> 00:30:11,812 � Securitate watch Gregorian Bivolaru 447 00:30:13,063 --> 00:30:17,609 dates from 1971. 448 00:30:18,402 --> 00:30:23,240 At the time, Gregorian Bivolaru was 19 years old 449 00:30:23,323 --> 00:30:26,994 and was on the last year of high school. 450 00:30:28,203 --> 00:30:34,168 They discovered that he was in contact with foreign citizens 451 00:30:34,251 --> 00:30:39,173 for those who asked pornographic material, 452 00:30:39,256 --> 00:30:42,301 such as photos, magazines. 453 00:30:42,843 --> 00:30:45,137 We have one of those letters. 454 00:30:45,220 --> 00:30:47,931 I think it's 72. 455 00:30:50,058 --> 00:30:51,685 "I know many things 456 00:30:51,768 --> 00:30:54,855 on sexual freedom in Sweden and would like to receive photos." 457 00:30:54,938 --> 00:30:56,899 BLURRY PHOTO SHOWS AN INNOCENT BIVOLARU, 458 00:30:56,982 --> 00:30:59,693 UNLIKE ITS ACTIVITY IS TIME AND LATER NOTORITY 459 00:30:59,776 --> 00:31:02,696 "Do you want to send me photos? and sexy slides from Sweden?" 460 00:31:02,779 --> 00:31:03,780 Another letter: 461 00:31:03,864 --> 00:31:06,950 "I have a big sympathy for the German people, 462 00:31:07,034 --> 00:31:08,285 and, in your sensual photos, 463 00:31:08,368 --> 00:31:13,457 I can see emancipated understanding of sexuality in Germany." 464 00:31:14,875 --> 00:31:18,462 Afterwards, he was sentenced to prison 465 00:31:18,545 --> 00:31:23,592 by possession and distribution of pornographic material. 466 00:31:23,675 --> 00:31:26,345 He was not arrested for being a yoga practitioner. 467 00:31:26,428 --> 00:31:28,138 That's what we see in the files. 468 00:31:29,473 --> 00:31:31,642 In the summer of 1989, 469 00:31:31,725 --> 00:31:36,480 the Securitate raided in several cities in Romania 470 00:31:36,563 --> 00:31:40,025 to dismantle groups who practiced yoga. 471 00:31:43,612 --> 00:31:47,115 Yoga has been banned since 1982. 472 00:31:47,199 --> 00:31:51,328 Bivolaru led a group of these, then he was detained again. 473 00:31:51,411 --> 00:31:56,708 But this time the Securitate decided that his place was not in prison, 474 00:31:56,792 --> 00:32:00,045 but in a psychiatric unit. 475 00:32:03,423 --> 00:32:07,678 He is basically portrayed as 476 00:32:07,761 --> 00:32:09,012 sexually obsessed. 477 00:32:11,223 --> 00:32:15,102 In his own words, in 1989, 478 00:32:15,185 --> 00:32:17,062 he said to Securitate agents: 479 00:32:17,145 --> 00:32:22,442 "One day, in 1986 or 1987, 480 00:32:22,526 --> 00:32:28,782 I met, close to home, a 12 year old brunette girl, 481 00:32:28,866 --> 00:32:30,117 I think she was a gypsy. 482 00:32:32,661 --> 00:32:35,706 I asked a close friend 483 00:32:35,789 --> 00:32:39,918 to have relations intimate with the girl. 484 00:32:40,002 --> 00:32:43,922 And then, to introduce her to me, 485 00:32:44,006 --> 00:32:48,051 so I could start it in sexual tantras." 486 00:32:48,468 --> 00:32:50,846 This shows possible interest 487 00:32:50,929 --> 00:32:55,767 in very young women since many, many years ago. 488 00:32:57,019 --> 00:33:01,273 And keeps saying that Bivolaru, over the years, 489 00:33:01,356 --> 00:33:06,153 asked friends to recruit other women for him. 490 00:33:09,072 --> 00:33:12,451 He was submitted to a psychiatric examination, 491 00:33:13,744 --> 00:33:18,415 who concluded that he had no mental capacity 492 00:33:18,498 --> 00:33:21,168 to evaluate own actions and needs. 493 00:33:21,960 --> 00:33:24,046 And just a few months later, 494 00:33:25,255 --> 00:33:27,925 the communist regime of Romania fell. 495 00:33:28,800 --> 00:33:29,635 DECEMBER 1989 496 00:33:29,718 --> 00:33:33,388 Shortly afterwards, a commission special of this psychiatric unit 497 00:33:33,472 --> 00:33:36,099 decided to release Gregorian Bivolaru. 498 00:33:36,934 --> 00:33:40,938 Shortly afterwards, in 1990, 499 00:33:41,021 --> 00:33:44,066 the group called MISA was born. 500 00:33:50,239 --> 00:33:54,618 After Prague, I returned to the UK 501 00:33:55,327 --> 00:33:57,579 and I started to realize 502 00:33:57,663 --> 00:34:01,166 how much the teachings and practices at school were extremists. 503 00:34:03,418 --> 00:34:07,881 There was a website made by people 504 00:34:07,965 --> 00:34:09,716 who were enemies of the school. 505 00:34:11,260 --> 00:34:14,804 They said he was demonic and that it was better not to look. 506 00:34:14,888 --> 00:34:18,225 SEITA MISA and CIA EXPOSED SEND YOUR TESTIMONIAL 507 00:34:18,308 --> 00:34:21,603 In the New Year from 21 to 22, I was alone at home, I went in and 508 00:34:21,687 --> 00:34:23,438 WE ARE A GROUP FROM FORMER MISA MEMBERS 509 00:34:23,522 --> 00:34:24,648 It was like a mirror. 510 00:34:25,690 --> 00:34:26,859 FRECKLETON HUMILIES MISA 511 00:34:27,234 --> 00:34:29,695 Just confirmed what I was already feeling. 512 00:34:29,777 --> 00:34:31,530 LIES - THEFT - FRAUD TESTIMONIALS 513 00:34:31,612 --> 00:34:32,572 Every moment� 514 00:34:32,656 --> 00:34:33,532 MISS-PORN� 515 00:34:33,614 --> 00:34:36,534 of doubt or incongruity now they made sense. 516 00:34:37,286 --> 00:34:39,746 And the word "sect", which before 517 00:34:39,830 --> 00:34:42,916 I wasn't willing to accept it. 518 00:34:43,000 --> 00:34:46,253 I thought it was a term used to derogate 519 00:34:46,335 --> 00:34:49,255 religion and spirituality and keep people away from them. 520 00:34:51,216 --> 00:34:53,302 At that moment, on New Year's Eve, 521 00:34:53,385 --> 00:34:55,929 I realized, for the first time, that had to leave. 522 00:34:56,013 --> 00:34:57,514 And I had to leave completely. 523 00:34:57,598 --> 00:35:00,684 I had to do something, manifest myself. 524 00:35:01,768 --> 00:35:05,647 And then it became very clear 525 00:35:05,731 --> 00:35:09,735 who they really were and what they were capable of. 526 00:35:12,237 --> 00:35:18,243 They claimed that everything was consensual and they painted me as a liar. 527 00:35:18,327 --> 00:35:21,788 People I believed in be my friends 528 00:35:21,872 --> 00:35:25,459 they lied about me and said that I I had strayed from the path. 529 00:35:26,376 --> 00:35:31,548 It saddened me that everything the foundation of the community, 530 00:35:31,632 --> 00:35:36,386 which had been an important part of my stay there in those years, 531 00:35:36,762 --> 00:35:39,056 It wasn't authentic at all. 532 00:35:39,139 --> 00:35:41,850 It wasn't a real community, They weren't real friendships. 533 00:35:41,934 --> 00:35:46,855 And there was no opportunity of someone being themselves. 534 00:35:53,278 --> 00:35:57,741 I received a call from Paula, the first with whom I had a relationship at the time. 535 00:35:59,034 --> 00:36:01,578 At first, she wasn't prepared to discuss anything 536 00:36:01,662 --> 00:36:03,163 PAULA ENTERED IN 2014, DENMARK 537 00:36:03,247 --> 00:36:05,457 �but he revealed everything, and it was� 538 00:36:05,541 --> 00:36:09,753 the final confirmation, when I realized it was the trigger. 539 00:36:17,302 --> 00:36:20,973 The fourth and final visit It was in October 2019. 540 00:36:28,105 --> 00:36:31,275 I wanted to move, get out of position, 541 00:36:31,358 --> 00:36:35,821 and he grabbed both my wrists and the feet on the bed. 542 00:36:35,904 --> 00:36:40,826 Like: "Be quiet." Then, a little after that� 543 00:36:40,909 --> 00:36:44,246 He didn't continue, he set his feet there and then removed his hands. 544 00:36:44,329 --> 00:36:46,540 A few minutes later, 545 00:36:46,623 --> 00:36:49,501 I started crying for him to get off me. 546 00:36:52,004 --> 00:36:54,840 Then he was shouting at me for about three hours. 547 00:36:55,340 --> 00:36:57,885 Said I would never again I would be invited to go there. 548 00:36:58,510 --> 00:37:00,888 Because I didn't deserve it, because I didn't love him. 549 00:37:02,014 --> 00:37:05,392 After I left the room and I went to another one with the girls, 550 00:37:05,475 --> 00:37:09,271 he came in and continued telling me horrible things. 551 00:37:09,354 --> 00:37:12,274 He repeated everything he had said in the room, just for me, 552 00:37:12,357 --> 00:37:13,650 in front of the girls. 553 00:37:15,485 --> 00:37:17,779 At that moment I said: "I'm never coming back here again." 554 00:37:17,863 --> 00:37:20,324 I had a clarity, like: "This is 555 00:37:20,407 --> 00:37:24,286 This is the opposite everything I thought it would be." 556 00:37:24,369 --> 00:37:25,454 He knows? 557 00:37:26,121 --> 00:37:29,625 "It's super traumatic, It's not pleasant at all. 558 00:37:29,917 --> 00:37:34,796 I'm being forced to pretend that I want to do something I don't want to do. 559 00:37:34,880 --> 00:37:39,259 And I'm being humiliated for not wanting to." He understands? 560 00:37:43,013 --> 00:37:44,973 That was the last straw. 561 00:37:45,057 --> 00:37:47,518 I simply I couldn't take it anymore. 562 00:37:47,601 --> 00:37:51,396 The feeling was: "I have to leave from here. I can't go on." 563 00:37:52,022 --> 00:37:53,649 PARIS, FRANCE 564 00:37:53,732 --> 00:37:56,777 A researcher from France contacted me. 565 00:37:56,860 --> 00:37:58,904 I agreed to give my statement. 566 00:38:01,698 --> 00:38:05,369 It's not easy for victims of sect crimes testify. 567 00:38:06,453 --> 00:38:09,748 These victims are under someone else's control. 568 00:38:09,831 --> 00:38:13,794 This psychological control prevents let them consider themselves victims. 569 00:38:16,171 --> 00:38:20,968 They have to trust the investigators to tell us what happened. 570 00:38:21,051 --> 00:38:24,930 You have to feel that we hear and understand. 571 00:38:27,516 --> 00:38:31,228 I was contacted by a special unit. 572 00:38:31,645 --> 00:38:33,689 Through techniques of interrogation 573 00:38:33,772 --> 00:38:36,441 and the use of language of this French unit, 574 00:38:36,525 --> 00:38:38,277 I realized they understood. 575 00:38:39,069 --> 00:38:41,905 I gave my statement to them. 576 00:38:41,989 --> 00:38:46,910 I knew that was what I had what to do. I had no other choice. 577 00:38:49,162 --> 00:38:50,581 When they heard me, 578 00:38:50,664 --> 00:38:53,250 they had already collected testimonies of some others. 579 00:38:53,333 --> 00:38:56,545 What I felt was: "Okay, it was with me ten years ago" 580 00:38:56,628 --> 00:38:58,046 BONNIE ENTERED IN 2012, DENMARK 581 00:38:58,130 --> 00:39:00,424 but there are still women going through this now." 582 00:39:02,092 --> 00:39:04,595 I knew I was a victim of sex trafficking and rape, 583 00:39:04,678 --> 00:39:07,639 and that was clear even because of the therapy I had done 584 00:39:07,723 --> 00:39:09,975 and for some things that I had read until then. 585 00:39:10,058 --> 00:39:13,312 But it's different hear the police repeat it, 586 00:39:13,395 --> 00:39:17,316 after hearing my details personal for several days, 587 00:39:17,399 --> 00:39:19,776 hear them say: "Yes, that's what happened. 588 00:39:19,860 --> 00:39:22,279 And it is a very serious crime by French laws, 589 00:39:23,572 --> 00:39:27,034 that we will certainly take until the last consequences." 590 00:39:30,078 --> 00:39:33,165 At the right time, with the permission of the magistrate, 591 00:39:33,248 --> 00:39:35,042 we started a big operation. 592 00:39:36,210 --> 00:39:39,421 We had almost 170 researchers in action. 593 00:39:40,589 --> 00:39:43,800 Right before the operation, We still had some doubts. 594 00:39:45,010 --> 00:39:48,180 What would we find behind the doors, 595 00:39:50,390 --> 00:39:53,519 behind which no one Had you managed to take a look? 596 00:39:54,353 --> 00:39:55,896 NOVEMBER 28, 2023 597 00:39:55,979 --> 00:39:59,983 There are 175 police officers mobilized. 40 simultaneous arrests. 598 00:40:00,067 --> 00:40:02,277 All connected to a yoga sect. 599 00:40:02,361 --> 00:40:03,695 "Tantric guru arrested" 600 00:40:03,779 --> 00:40:04,780 HORSHAM, AUSTRALIA 601 00:40:04,863 --> 00:40:06,698 "�for abuse and sexual exploitation in France." 602 00:40:07,157 --> 00:40:09,868 He is suspected of having abused dozens of women. 603 00:40:09,952 --> 00:40:12,412 Simply euphoric. I don't know. I don't 604 00:40:12,496 --> 00:40:15,332 Honestly, when Ziggy called me, I didn't have it 605 00:40:15,415 --> 00:40:17,251 I don't even know what to say. 606 00:40:17,334 --> 00:40:20,879 The guru lived in this apartment near Paris 607 00:40:20,963 --> 00:40:22,631 where he was detained yesterday. 608 00:40:22,714 --> 00:40:25,759 It seems like it's the beginning of the reckoning 609 00:40:25,843 --> 00:40:28,428 that we all wanted to see happen. 610 00:40:28,804 --> 00:40:31,723 He chose certain women 611 00:40:31,807 --> 00:40:35,978 from all over the world to be started. 612 00:40:36,061 --> 00:40:39,356 Sexual initiation under the pretext of personal development. 613 00:40:40,065 --> 00:40:42,276 At first, I didn't know if it was true. 614 00:40:42,359 --> 00:40:46,989 It was a great mix of shock, amazement, gratitude and relief. 615 00:40:48,365 --> 00:40:49,616 You can come in. 616 00:40:50,409 --> 00:40:53,453 Suspected of being the leader of a sect. 617 00:40:53,537 --> 00:40:58,292 Accused of rape, trafficking of people and organized crime. 618 00:40:58,375 --> 00:41:01,128 It's not over yet. This is just the first step 619 00:41:01,211 --> 00:41:03,589 of what will be a very long process. 620 00:41:03,672 --> 00:41:07,676 At least, however, we know that he can't do this anymore. 621 00:41:15,100 --> 00:41:16,894 At the time of the operation, 622 00:41:16,977 --> 00:41:19,146 the accusations against the movement were: 623 00:41:20,898 --> 00:41:23,817 Abuse of vulnerable people in state of psychological suggestion, 624 00:41:24,526 --> 00:41:27,779 human trafficking and rape. 625 00:41:32,659 --> 00:41:35,871 Do you think he is a criminal? guilty of these crimes? 626 00:41:41,001 --> 00:41:43,504 As soon as I took it my experiences 627 00:41:43,587 --> 00:41:47,341 and what happened to me from the context of their dogma 628 00:41:48,050 --> 00:41:53,180 and put it in the context of reactions from other normal people, 629 00:41:53,263 --> 00:41:58,393 of my feelings and experiences, of legal definitions, 630 00:41:58,477 --> 00:42:03,440 I realized what had happened it was human trafficking and rape. 631 00:42:06,568 --> 00:42:10,489 Ʌ yes, in my understanding. 632 00:42:11,198 --> 00:42:15,619 And the story is also complicated. 633 00:42:20,707 --> 00:42:23,710 But ultimately, the responsibility� 634 00:42:24,461 --> 00:42:25,712 It's his. 635 00:42:29,591 --> 00:42:32,719 For me, it was just a bad experience, so far. 636 00:42:32,803 --> 00:42:34,721 Then, my therapist said: 637 00:42:34,805 --> 00:42:38,517 "Look, let's call things that happened in their name. 638 00:42:40,519 --> 00:42:41,937 When you were kidnapped" 639 00:42:42,020 --> 00:42:45,858 She started using those words in therapy. It was quite conflicting. 640 00:42:45,941 --> 00:42:47,901 It was like, "Oh, I don't want to hear that." 641 00:42:47,985 --> 00:42:49,444 "It wasn't that." 642 00:42:49,528 --> 00:42:51,321 And she helped me a lot 643 00:42:51,405 --> 00:42:54,366 starting to call the things that really 644 00:42:54,449 --> 00:42:57,077 Calling things that happened by the right name. 645 00:42:58,328 --> 00:43:01,790 Then, when I saw the accusations imputed to him, 646 00:43:01,874 --> 00:43:04,126 they said "rape". 647 00:43:04,209 --> 00:43:08,130 And there was an explanation of what is rape under French law. 648 00:43:10,174 --> 00:43:13,969 Any type of sexual interaction 649 00:43:14,052 --> 00:43:17,514 carried out by manipulation or coercion 650 00:43:17,598 --> 00:43:18,974 It is also called rape. 651 00:43:19,975 --> 00:43:23,645 PARIS, FRANCE 652 00:43:24,813 --> 00:43:26,315 JUNE 2024 653 00:43:26,398 --> 00:43:29,735 We don't have to talk much. We just have to read 654 00:43:29,818 --> 00:43:31,820 PREVIOUS INVESTIGATIVE HEARINGS 655 00:43:31,904 --> 00:43:34,156 Your statement, to check that there are no errors 656 00:43:34,239 --> 00:43:37,492 It worries me that I have resisted, ultimately, 657 00:43:37,576 --> 00:43:39,328 of having said no. 658 00:43:39,411 --> 00:43:41,747 I left and was not initiated. 659 00:43:42,539 --> 00:43:47,002 I didn't suffer the same horrors that others have suffered. 660 00:43:47,085 --> 00:43:51,215 It would then be an indication that the consent was valid, 661 00:43:51,298 --> 00:43:52,716 Why could I say no? 662 00:43:55,427 --> 00:43:56,553 OXFORD, ENGLAND 663 00:43:56,637 --> 00:43:59,598 Here is the beginning from the shops on Cowley Road. 664 00:44:00,641 --> 00:44:03,060 You can see the sign from here. Do you see there? 665 00:44:03,143 --> 00:44:05,562 TARA YOGA CENTER YOGA - TANTRA - SPIRITUALITY 666 00:44:05,646 --> 00:44:07,981 They won't say it didn't happen. 667 00:44:08,065 --> 00:44:11,693 They will say that they all consented. 668 00:44:11,777 --> 00:44:13,320 And therefore, there was no crime. 669 00:44:15,697 --> 00:44:17,533 This is the debate of the case. 670 00:44:17,616 --> 00:44:18,992 ATTORNEY FOR THE APPLICANTS 671 00:44:19,076 --> 00:44:23,705 This is what the accused alleges: that they were all free. 672 00:44:24,873 --> 00:44:29,419 All branches open when I leave they are still open. 673 00:44:30,003 --> 00:44:31,713 The preferred target is students. 674 00:44:31,797 --> 00:44:34,299 It's very uncomfortable to think 675 00:44:34,383 --> 00:44:37,344 that someone young and impressionable, but almost anyone, 676 00:44:37,427 --> 00:44:42,641 could just walk into that yoga studio and take a class, like me, 677 00:44:42,724 --> 00:44:47,604 without knowing it's on to Bivolaru, MISA and that man. 678 00:44:50,440 --> 00:44:52,150 I can see, as a lawyer 679 00:44:52,526 --> 00:44:58,615 who works with cases of this type, 680 00:44:58,699 --> 00:45:03,161 that all these women were under psychological control 681 00:45:03,245 --> 00:45:06,707 when they experienced the acts they reported. 682 00:45:08,333 --> 00:45:12,212 What is illegal in France � be part of a group 683 00:45:12,296 --> 00:45:15,591 and, through certain techniques conditioning, 684 00:45:15,674 --> 00:45:18,468 be private of your free will. 685 00:45:21,138 --> 00:45:23,891 If it comes to trial, 686 00:45:23,974 --> 00:45:27,060 it certainly won't be next year, 687 00:45:27,436 --> 00:45:30,480 maybe it will take longer than two or three years. 688 00:45:33,025 --> 00:45:34,526 We wait. 689 00:45:34,610 --> 00:45:36,820 We wait proactively. 690 00:45:36,904 --> 00:45:40,657 As we say in French, I don't know if the translator will understand: 691 00:45:40,741 --> 00:45:44,036 "We wait with weapons at our feet, like soldiers. 692 00:45:44,119 --> 00:45:47,247 Ready to act." 693 00:46:01,803 --> 00:46:03,889 It was crazy, actually. 694 00:46:03,972 --> 00:46:07,518 I'm still trying to assimilate everything. 695 00:46:08,519 --> 00:46:11,021 Find myself again. 696 00:46:17,903 --> 00:46:21,240 I miss the community, of the teachings. 697 00:46:21,323 --> 00:46:24,076 I miss feeling incredibly inspired. 698 00:46:25,369 --> 00:46:31,291 And I also learned that we can't just stare at the light above 699 00:46:31,375 --> 00:46:33,168 when we are in a pile of shit. 700 00:46:36,505 --> 00:46:40,259 In the time I spent there, working together 701 00:46:40,342 --> 00:46:42,261 with other members of the community, 702 00:46:42,344 --> 00:46:45,764 I still feel like there's a certain sense of fulfillment behind it all. 703 00:46:48,308 --> 00:46:51,728 I asked myself many times what my life would have been like 704 00:46:51,812 --> 00:46:54,857 if I hadn't passed seven years in this organization. 705 00:46:56,024 --> 00:46:58,443 Maybe I would have children, I don't know. 706 00:46:58,527 --> 00:47:02,698 Maybe I was in a relationship long, monogamous in this period. 707 00:47:02,781 --> 00:47:04,867 It's very difficult to know what would have happened 708 00:47:04,950 --> 00:47:06,952 or what life would have been like. 709 00:47:10,873 --> 00:47:14,501 I think it's good to be curious 710 00:47:14,585 --> 00:47:20,716 about why we are on this incredible planet. 711 00:47:22,050 --> 00:47:27,681 But life is hard, It's painful, it's confusing. 712 00:47:27,764 --> 00:47:30,017 Many things well horrible things happen, 713 00:47:30,475 --> 00:47:33,896 and we have no explanation why, 714 00:47:33,979 --> 00:47:36,106 and maybe we shouldn't have. 715 00:47:39,026 --> 00:47:43,447 Some of my dreams of children were torn to pieces 716 00:47:43,530 --> 00:47:45,949 for this sect and this lifestyle. 717 00:47:46,408 --> 00:47:50,245 I think it is our moral duty take action, have a voice 718 00:47:50,329 --> 00:47:52,497 and not let them intimidate us. 719 00:47:53,373 --> 00:47:56,210 We have no reason to feel ashamed. 720 00:47:56,835 --> 00:47:59,838 As I like to say in English: 721 00:47:59,922 --> 00:48:04,259 Only by losing your fear do you have power to take their power away. 722 00:48:07,596 --> 00:48:09,473 I'm still trying to understand 723 00:48:09,556 --> 00:48:11,725 my position on the spiritual spectrum. 724 00:48:11,808 --> 00:48:13,268 Well done, Gill. 725 00:48:13,352 --> 00:48:16,855 There is a sense of spirituality, but I don't know anymore 726 00:48:16,939 --> 00:48:20,442 what I still believe I'm trying to digest this. 727 00:48:22,569 --> 00:48:28,116 Since then, I realized that I have a very deep connection 728 00:48:28,200 --> 00:48:32,454 with spirituality, if we want call it god, universe or the source. 729 00:48:32,538 --> 00:48:36,625 I have such profound experience that I don't need a guru. 730 00:48:36,708 --> 00:48:40,963 I don't need anyone else. All of this exists within me. 731 00:48:46,552 --> 00:48:48,929 NATHA from Denmark says to follow the laws of the country 732 00:48:49,012 --> 00:48:51,139 and which did not make it possible meetings with Bivolaru, 733 00:48:51,223 --> 00:48:53,058 nor is it responsible by personal choices. 734 00:48:53,141 --> 00:48:54,726 NATHA from Sweden claims to be independent 735 00:48:54,810 --> 00:48:55,978 and follow the laws of the country, 736 00:48:56,061 --> 00:48:58,730 no institutional ties with Bivolaru or other Atman schools. 737 00:48:58,814 --> 00:49:00,274 It says that students who found Bivolaru 738 00:49:00,357 --> 00:49:01,650 They did it without the school's knowledge 739 00:49:01,733 --> 00:49:03,318 and what she treats with serious concerns, 740 00:49:03,402 --> 00:49:04,611 suggestions or criticisms from students. 741 00:49:05,988 --> 00:49:08,532 Tara Yoga Center says that, due to processes, 742 00:49:08,615 --> 00:49:10,075 cannot comment at this time. 743 00:49:10,158 --> 00:49:11,702 Atman says it is not responsible 744 00:49:11,785 --> 00:49:14,663 for the private lives of employees or affiliated students, 745 00:49:14,746 --> 00:49:17,708 and that the allegations are under investigation and have not been proven. 746 00:49:17,791 --> 00:49:19,418 They all say condemn all forms of abuse. 747 00:49:20,460 --> 00:49:22,671 In a statement, MISA denied allegations of trafficking, 748 00:49:22,754 --> 00:49:24,006 abuse, manipulation or coercion, 749 00:49:24,089 --> 00:49:25,924 stating that the processes ongoing in France 750 00:49:26,008 --> 00:49:28,051 derive from a historical of misunderstandings 751 00:49:28,135 --> 00:49:29,761 and discrimination against their teachings, 752 00:49:29,845 --> 00:49:31,972 in particular those that bring together spirituality and eroticism. 753 00:49:32,055 --> 00:49:35,017 Emphasized development staff of thousands of students, 754 00:49:35,100 --> 00:49:36,727 rejecting the allegations how to hunt witches 755 00:49:36,810 --> 00:49:38,770 based on testimony of dissatisfied people. 756 00:49:39,938 --> 00:49:42,900 Gregorian Bivolaru was wanted through representatives, 757 00:49:42,983 --> 00:49:43,984 but he didn't respond. 758 00:49:44,067 --> 00:49:47,112 He denies all accusations against your person. 759 00:50:36,662 --> 00:50:39,581 Translated: Felipe Bini