A Siberian cult leader who claims to be the reincarnation of Jesus Christ was sentenced to 12 years in a Russian prison camp after his conviction for physical and financial damage to his followers.
Sergei Torop, a former traffic police officer who is known to his followers as “Vissarion”, which means “he who gives new life” and two assistants used psychological pressure to extract money from his followers and cause serious damage to their mental and physical health, Reuters reported.
Torop, 64, founded the church of the last will in a remote part of the Krasnoyarsk region in Siberia in 1991, the year that the Soviet Union separated.
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Vissarion, who has proclaimed himself a new Christ, drives off a service during the holiday of Good Fruit Feast in the village of Obitel Rassveta, southeast of the Russian Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk. (Reuters/Ilya Nerymushin)
He was one of the three men who had been convicted in the Siberian city of Novosibirsk on Monday. Torop and Vladimir Vedernikov were sentenced to 12 years and Vadim Redkin was sentenced to 11 years in a prison camp with maximum security.
All three men were arrested in 2020 in a helicopter attack involving the FSB security service, the successor to the Soviet KGB.
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Members of the religious cult led by Vissarion, who has proclaimed himself a new Christ, participate in a procession on the eve of the holiday of Good Fruit Celebration in the Russian village of Petropavlovka. (Reuters/Ilya Nerymushin)
A bearded self -proclaimed mystic with long hair, Torop claimed to be “reborn” to convey the Word of God. He attracted thousands of followers, some of whom flocked to live in a settlement that is known as the “residence of Dawn” or “Sun City” at a time when Russia fought against poverty and lawlessness according to Reuters.
He told his followers not to eat, smoke, drink alcohol or swear and stop using money.
Researchers said that the men caused “moral damage” to 16 people, damage to the physical health of six people and moderate damage to the health of another.

Members of the religious cult of Vissarion, who has proclaimed himself a new Christ, participates in the holiday of Good Fruit Feast in Siberia. (Reuters/Ilya Nerymushin)
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Vedernikov was also accused of committing fraud, reported the Ria State news agency.