Taiga deception: why sect leader Vissarion received 12 years in prison

The Novosibirsk Zheleznodorozhny District Court has sentenced Sergei Torop, the leader of the Church of the Last Testament sect known in Russia, to 12 years in a high-security penal colony in a case of violence against people. The court found the pseudo-prophet, who called himself Vissarion, guilty of creating a religious organization that encroaches on the personality and rights of citizens and harms their health. The community, which numbered about 5,000 adherents, was established in 1991 and functioned until 2020. People sold their apartments and went to live in the "City of the Sun" created by Hasp in the Siberian taiga. How one of the largest sects in Russia functioned and how its "PR campaign" worked is described in the Izvestia article.

Who is Vissarion?

On June 30, the Zheleznodorozhny District Court of Novosibirsk announced the verdict of Sergei Torop in a criminal case on the creation of a religious organization and psychological violence against people. The court found Vissarion, as the defendant called himself when he was a "prophet," guilty of organizing a community that encroaches on the personality and rights of citizens. He was sentenced to 12 years in a high-security penal colony.

According to investigators, in 1991, Torop and his associates Vadim Redkin and Vladimir Vedernikov created a pseudo-religious community, whose main goals were to manage people and make a profit. The number of followers of the "church" in some years reached 5,000 people.

Near Minusinsk in the Krasnoyarsk Territory, Hasp created a settlement, which he called the "City of the Sun." The former electrician and patrol officer called himself the incarnation of Jesus Christ and actively exploited his image — he wore long hair, beard and clothes, walked barefoot.

He called the community created in the "nineties" the "Church of the Last Testament," alluding to the last times described in the Apocalypse. In his sermons, Vissarion talked a lot about the end of the world and urged people to get rid of everything that connected them with the world. He forbade people to work in secular jobs and forced them to starve.

People from all over the country, including famous artists, came to Vissarion's community to live and work. For example, for a long time, Svetlana Vladimirskaya, a performer of the popular hits "Step on the gas" and "My Boy" in the 90s, was an adherent of Torop's ideas.

People sold their apartments and other property and moved to the "City of the Sun", where they lived in nature in a commune. They paid Vissarion tithes and presented him with expensive gifts.

As follows from the case file, the founders of the sect used psychological violence against adherents, including children. They manipulated people, brought them to nervous and physical exhaustion. In addition, the sect practiced free sexual relations and polygamy.

Earlier, the media reported at least one suicide among members of the community, as well as the death of a baby born there.

According to the UK, 16 followers suffered moral harm, six suffered serious harm to their health, and one more suffered moderate harm to their health.

What did the court decide in the Vissarion case?

Torop and his associates were detained in September 2020. Then a helicopter with a capture group flew to the "City of the Sun", the security forces took Vissarion to the Novosibirsk pre-trial detention center. But finally, the "Church of the Last Testament" was liquidated as a legal entity only in 2023 by a court decision.

The indictment in the case was approved by the Prosecutor General's Office. The prosecutor demanded 14 years of imprisonment in a high—security penal colony for Vissarion, 14.5 years for Vedernikov, and 13 years for Redkin. The court sentenced the first two defendants to 12 years, and Redkin to 11 years.

The court, among other things, found Vladimir Vedernikov guilty of fraud. According to the case file, in 2017-2021, as the director of the private secondary school "Istoki", he fraudulently received a subsidy of over 5 million rubles from the budget of the Krasnoyarsk Territory.

The court satisfied the civil claims of the victims, as well as the claim of the prosecutor's office of the Novosibirsk region for a total amount of over 45 million.

Sergey Torop pleaded not guilty.

"We still don't even know what I did,— he told reporters after the verdict was announced. — No one told us. The investigator's fantasies, that's all. No one accused us in any of the interrogations.

Sergei Torop's lawyer Olga Marinkina called the verdict "absolutely illegal."

"No evidence has been established in the case file, either at the preliminary investigation or as part of the judicial investigation," she told Izvestia. — Therefore, of course, we will appeal. We are confident that the truth and the truth will prevail, and there will be a lawful verdict.

Potential for promotion

Sergei Torop's sentence looks fair, says Alexander Dvorkin, a professor at St. Tikhon's Orthodox University for the Humanities and a sectologist.

"I think that the number of lives that this man and his accomplices have crippled is much more expensive than the years he will spend in prison," the expert told Izvestia.

According to him, Vissarion was "made" by his entourage: first of all, his PR director, the former vocalist of Bari Alibasov's band Integral, Vadim Redkin, and the financial director of the sect, Vladimir Vedernikov.

— In the 90s, many people were demoralized and ready to believe in anything, - said the expert. — The guy was in the right place at the right time. Then he was younger and prettier, had a photogenic face. They combed his hair, cut his beard in the "evangelical" style and began to unwind.

At the same time, the expert believes that Vedernikov and Redkin are the real leaders of the sect, and Torop, in his opinion, was only its "face." Redkin prepared sermons for Vissarion, and also wrote a multi-volume "Gospel" called "Narration from Vadim." This teaching was mixed up with occult ideas, postulates about the unity of man with nature and universal brotherhood, the predictions of the Bulgarian seer Vanga and the system of the Soviet "healer" Porfiry Ivanov, astrology, ufology, and the belief in reincarnation.

— Due to the mixing of all these ideas, people had a "recognition effect": They saw the long—haired Vissarion as the incarnation of Christ," said Alexander Dvorkin. — There was a very illiterate pseudo-biblical language attached to all this, which Torop used in his sermons. Active recruitment to the sect took place until the mid-2000s, then, due to active competition from other similar sects, the influx decreased.

A plot in the taiga

Posing as an eco-settlement, the Vissarionites were able to get a protected area of the taiga at their disposal, Alexander Dvorkin noted.

"They felled ancient cedars and built cottages out of them, which could cause enormous environmental damage," the expert said. — Law enforcement agencies have repeatedly tried to stop this destructive sect. Things only got off the ground when the federal government took over.

Article 239 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation on the creation of a non-profit organization that encroaches on the personality and rights of citizens has long been perceived as rare and even exotic, Egor Panin, a lawyer at the Avex Just law firm, told Izvestia. However, in recent years, its use has become more frequent due to increased control by the prosecutor's office over destructive and totalitarian communities.

— Currently, this article is becoming an independent tool for combating organizations that systematically violate the rights of citizens, — said the lawyer. — In itself, this crime is not serious, but Hasp was accused of not only psychological, but also episodes of physical violence. These related crimes allowed the court to go far beyond punishing a "sectarian" article.

Sergei Torop's sentence, the lawyer added, can be called fair, given the public danger and the multiplicity of crimes imputed to him.