Gregorian Bivolaru also known as Magnus Aurolsson[1] and nicknamed Grieg, Grig or, by the press, Guru (born 12 March 1952) is the founder of the Movement for Spiritual Integration into the Absolute (MISA). MISA has faced allegations of procuring and forced prostitution.[2] He is imprisoned in France for an "alleged rape, human trafficking and kidnapping scheme".[3] He faces accusations of organized crime.[4]
In 2005, the Supreme Court of Sweden agreed to grant political refugee status to Bivolaru in response to his claims of persecution by Romanian authorities. On 14 June 2013, the High Court of Cassation and Justice of Romania definitively sentenced Bivolaru to six years in prison, without suspension, for sexual acts with a minor. Furthermore, he was acquitted for all the other charges against him (e.g. trafficking of a minor). Bivolaru is also on the 'wanted' list of Interpol, for criminal charges of aggravated trafficking in human beings. In a European Court of Human Rights judgement in 2021, he was proclaimed to be criminal on-the-run for forcing his followers to turn over their life savings to him and have sex with each other, and him, at his command. Young female members said they were forced to work as strippers and appear in hardcore porn films. In 2013, he was convicted in absentia for having sex with a minor. France executed a European Arrest Warrant (EAW) for him in 2016.[5] He was again arrested in France in November 2023, but not for extradition purposes.
Bivolaru, born in Tărtășești, Ilfov County, (now in Dâmbovița County), Romania, completed high school in Bucharest. He joined a predecessor to the Bucharest Metro company as an unskilled labourer in 1971. He began practicing yoga at the age of 17.
During the communist regime Bivolaru was kept under observation by the Department of State Security, because he was practicing and teaching yoga, yoga being dissuaded in Romania at that time. He was jailed twice and forcefully hospitalized in a psychiatric ward once. In 2012 two courts acknowledged that Bivolaru was sentenced and jailed for political reasons during the communist regime.
In 1977, he was arrested on the charge of distributing pornographic materials and sentenced to one year in prison, but he did not complete it due to an amnesty granted for all minor convictions by the President of Romania Nicolae Ceaușescu on his birthday.[6] On 17 April 1984, he was arrested again for the distribution of pornographic materials. He was locked up in a Securitate cell, from which he managed to escape. He was captured a few days afterwards, then tried only on the charges of escaping from prison and sentenced to 18 months in jail.
On 17 August 1989, Bivolaru was arrested again, on the grounds that he was mentally unhinged and a menace to the general public. Prosecutors requested he be hospitalized, which was granted two days later on 19 August 1989 by the sector 1 Tribunal of Bucharest based on a report submitted by National Institute for Legal Medicine IML. He was sentenced to hospitalization at The Poiana Mare Neuropsychiatry Hospital in Dolj county. In the IML report the diagnostic was schizoid personality disorder, paranoia with obsessive-phobic elements. Until 1989 he was constantly on the list of the most dangerous people for the communist regime, being permanently in the sights of the Security, but he never stopped practicing and teaching yoga. Gabriel Andreescu, researcher of the CNSAS archives, dissident and human rights activist, states in his book MISA - Radiografia unei represiuni that the group of yogis coordinated by Bivolaru is "the only example of long-lasting collective resistance under Nicolae Ceaușescu's regime".[7] On 1 July 2011, a Bucharest court issued a ruling recognizing the political nature of the sentences suffered by Bivolaru during the communist period and his internment in Poiana Mare Psychiatric Hospital.[8]
Debate exists about the validity of the Bivolaru's mental health diagnoses. A psychologist friend of Bivolaru, when asked by a young girl in 1993 about attending Bivolaru's courses, advised her to stay clear of him because he is a "psychopath".[9] Cecilia Tiz, a yoga teacher and formerly associated with MISA, has publicly stated that "Bivolaru is a sick man who needs therapy".[10] During his 2016 extradition procedures, Bivolaru pleaded irresponsible by reason of being legally insane,[11] although the French court refused to pass judgment upon him being insane, since that is not germane to extradition procedures. One of his lawyers publicly declared during that trial "He has become paranoid, he is fearful of everything."[12]
However, the doctor at Poiana Mare who was in charge of Bivolaru, Leonard Hriscu, declared that "Gregorian Bivolaru was not a man in need of psychiatric treatment."
Bivolaru thinks he is unfairly persecuted, just as Jesus Christ was unjustly crucified.[13] Gregorian Bivolaru was acquitted after 17 years of trial.[14] [15] [16] The name "Operation Christ" was given to the case by prosecutors.[17] [18] [19]
The French newspaper Libération reported that comparing himself to Jesus Christ is evidence of megalomania.[20]
In Romania, yoga was removed from public facilities in 1982, in connection with the "Transcendental Meditation scandal." Yoga was not illegal in Romania but it was dissuaded by the regime, until December 1989, the time of the Romanian Revolution. After it, Bivolaru founded the Movement for Spiritual Integration into the Absolute (MISA) as a non-profit association on 23 January 1990. It claimed a socio-professional, philosophical and educative character, aiming to increase the spiritual level of people by spreading the yoga knowledge and practices. MISA included bogus lectures on related disciplines such as Kashmirian philosophy and Ayurveda (traditional Indian medicine). The yoga courses were first held in Bucharest but quickly spread all over the country.
Finnish broadcasting company Yle published a program under MOT series on MISA and Bivolaru. In the program, ex-Natha members were interviewed. Natha is described as being rooted to Romanian MISA movement. The interviewees described controversial activities like vomiting as a way of purification. Also sexual tendencies like pornography and sexual relations with the teachers and pupils were reported. A representative of Finnish Natha commented that sex is always a matter between the two persons. Seppo Isotalo, a human rights activist who tried to help MISA in confrontation with Romanian authorities, described MISA as follows:
Bivolaru was an honorary member of the European Yoga Council until April 2008, when he was expelled from it and from all affiliated branches.[21] Shri Yogacharya Ajita, as President of the European Yoga Council of European Yoga Alliance and Honorary Secretary of the European Federation of Yoga for the European Union, announced the following to the International Yoga Federation: "My official resolution as president of the European Yoga Council of the European Yoga Alliance is that Mihai Stoian, Grieg Bivolaru and all people linked to the MISA/NATHA organization are immediately expelled from our organization and that we stop their membership."
According to The Times of India, MISA currently operates under different names in different countries. It is Natha in Denmark and Portugal, Tara in the US and UK and Satya in India. MISA is also known as ATMAN.[22] [23] [24]
According to Romania TV (data from 2014) "Thus, only from the annual membership fee, Guru collects 4 million euros."[25] In December 2023, MISA (all worldwide branches, regardless of their different names) counted a hundred thousand adepts. Another source says it has "40,000 adepts from 34 countries".
In 2011 MISA was entangled in a scandal in Argentina described as "porno-yoga".[26] [27]
In 2012 MISA was entangled in a scandal in Italy involving sexual slavery.[28] [29] At the time, several tabloid newspapers took some of the bombshell accusations without checking them, without waiting for any proof. Despite the searches and confiscations carried out by the Italian police, even 10 years later none of the accusations have been proven and not a single person has been prosecuted.[30]
In fact, the long trial of MISA members on charges of "Trafficking in human beings and conspiracy to commit crimes", which took place in Romania, was finally concluded after 17 years and not a single guilty party was found, according to a 2021 post of a justice watch organization. Other articles show that there have never been any official charges of pimping, according to the 2021 post.[31]
In 2023 MISA was entangled in a scandal in France involving sexual slavery and human trafficking. MISA has been described as "a group reminiscent of the Mafia and pimping disguised as philosophy". 30 years prison sentences are on the table. In France, various women were deprived of passports, of mobile phones, they were transported blindfolded, so that they will not know where they are, there were rarely allowed to remotely communicate with their parents, and all such talks were supervised, they were forced to sign formal statements that they did sex and porn because of their own free will, and except for women's underwear they were allowed no clothes.[32] A witness interviewed by RTL confirms such reports: in one year since joining MISA she had to perform sex work.[33]
MISA has been described as organized crime.[34] MISA is organized compartmentally, according to a general operating principle of organized crime.[35]
Some MISA ashrams close to Bivolaru, hidden from the main teaching schools are, for a want of a better word brothels, and the journalist Bogdan Comaroni said that children born in ashrams are sometimes sold to pedophiles.[36] Comaroni stated that many local politicians, policemen and prosecutors from Romania were clients of MISA prostitutes. According to Comaroni, Bivolaru built a real estate financial empire based on pimping and money laundering.
In 2005, he was charged in Romania with eight counts, including sexual exploitation, tax evasion, and illegally crossing the border to escape prosecution. In March 2005, Bivolaru asked for asylum in Sweden, claiming that he feared persecution in Romania. On 4 April 2005, the Swedish police of Malmö detained Bivolaru.
On 15 April the Romanian Police issued a second warrant in his name, in which he was accused of "human trafficking and other charges related to organized crime" (related to an allegedly sequestration of some persons in some ashrams and forcing them to work without being paid).
The decision of the Swedish Immigration Authority that Bivolaru should be granted political asylum was effective 2 January 2006.[37]
The lawyers of Bivolaru filed two applications to the European Court for Human Rights. The applications cover alleged violations that occurred while issuing the two arrest warrants.
On 18 January 2011, Bivolaru's trial was, for the tenth time, postponed again until 23 March 2011, marking his case as one of the oldest in the Cluj court. This trial for human trafficking is still pending, but the unconstitutionality exceptions invoked by the suspects were already rejected.[38]
The solution in another trial, held at the Sibiu court, was that the charges were dropped, partly due to lack of evidence for some charges (the prosecutors refused to show authorization for performing the taps, considering it a state secret, so evidence was dropped)[39] and partly due to exceeding the statute of limitations corresponding to the charges.[40]
Bivolaru has requested damages from the Romanian state for being sentenced to mandatory psychiatric treatment during the Communist regime.[41]
On 14 June 2013, the High Court of Cassation and Justice of Romania convicted and sentenced Bivolaru in absentia to six years in prison, without suspension, for sexual acts with a minor, who said she never had sexual relations with Bivolaru.[42] Also, on the same day, Court Judge Ionuț Matei received a letter threatening him and his family.[43]
On 27 February 2016, Bivolaru was arrested in France.[44] After extradition from France, he was imprisoned in Romania.[45] He has requested a retrial.[46] He had to do one year and three months less than six years, since he had already spent this time in detention.[47] Alba Iulia Court of Appeals had rejected Bivolaru's demand for a retrial.[48]
On 13 September 2017, he was conditionally released from prison.[49] After being conditionally released, Bivolaru fled the country shortly after. The Romanian news agency Agerpres wrote in 2017, citing the website of Europol, "Bivolaru is wanted for [...] trafficking in human beings, Finland and France between 2008 - 2013", sexual abuse, and other crimes.[50] [51] In 2023 he was wanted by Interpol for aggravated trafficking in human beings and sexual assault at the request of Finland. He has been arrested in France on 28 November 2023.[52] Bivolaru and five other people belonging to MISA remain under provisional arrest.[53] They are accused of financial exploitation, under the guise of Tantra (sexual exploitation).[54] [55] Bivolaru thinks he is "the victim of a political conspiracy", who would have retaliated against him for "fighting against a gigantic planetary satanic and freemasonic conspiracy".[56] This is for a long time the official creed of Bivolaru and MISA.
The Spanish newspaper El País confirms he is accused of exploiting female adepts for sexual contacts and luring them into performing in pornography, even by secretly recording them for such purposes.[57]
In Finland he is punishable with ten years imprisonment.[58] In France he is punishable with 30 years imprisonment.[59] The other five persons still in prison at this time are punishable with 15 years imprisonment.[60]
According to Le Monde, "At the eight locations they visited, the police found 58 women – 51 of Romanian nationality, none French – 'living in difficult conditions, with severe overcrowding and no privacy'".[61] Each woman in the villa of Bivolaru's right-hand man from France had a room of three square meters, and the hygiene conditions were poor.[62] They were malnourished. Many of the women arrested on 28 November 2023 were inebriated.[63] [64]
In 2024 German authorities also opened an investigation regarding MISA/ATMAN.[65] The authorities have expressed doubts about the success of such investigation, since Germany does not have the same laws as France.
At the end of April 2024, the French authorities arrested the wife of Bivolaru's right-hand man.[66]
Bivolaru will receive payment for damages, for a 17-year trial in Romania, a duration which was ruled excessive.[67]
Two of his close associates from EU were arrested in August 2024 in Georgia.[68] [69] According to another source, they were arrested on 2 September 2024. When they were arrested, they had half million Euro. The article from Marianne links them and other MISA chieftains to an even more infamous[70] cult, Ashram Shambala from Russia. Agence France-Presse mentioned that 15 persons were indicted in 2023 in this matter.[71]
the investigation still continues, unveiling various massage parlors (i.e. brothels) linked to Bivolaru/MISA in various locations from France, Monaco, and Italy.[72] The authorities keep mum precisely because the investigation is ongoing.[72] he is still wanted by Interpol at the request of Finland.
In the 1990s and the 2000s, there was a media campaign in Romania against Bivolaru and MISA, campaign which has been compared with those of Stalinism and Nazism.[73] According to Andreescu, the motivation was not political, instead it was a sensational subject which largely promoted the sales of newspapers, while the journalist Ion Cristoiu suspected that the Social Democratic Party was the evil genius behind such campaign, aiming to appease conservative voters.[73] Andreescu accused the Romanian Justice of repression, but noticed that in the end justice was rendered to those who were not guilty.[74]
Bivolaru flirted with the purportedly Hindu myth of having sex with a thousand virgins, hoping to reach the heights of spiritual power.[75]
An article in Huffington Post referred to MISA as aA Vice article states that
In one of his books, Bivolaru claims Freemasonry is a satanic conspiracy trying to achieve world domination via the establishment of a world masonic government, a world kingdom, as well as a unique world religion.[76] Gregorian Bivolaru claims to have contact with extraterrestrials who have healing powers[77] and they will help humanity during its "difficult moments".[78] His publications have been described as "conspiracy theory writings having paranoid ideas".
Bivolaru and MISA are fiercely against homosexuals,[72] [79] but they have no objection to lesbianism, which they even promote during Tantric initiation[80] (underage virgins first had to undergo lesbianism before having sex with Bivolaru). One woman claimed in court she was sexually exploited by Gregorian Bivolaru and lost her virginity to him while she was only 15.[81] [82] Before getting deflowered by Bivolaru she was initiated through "performing lesbian acts with a dozen other women".[83]
One German witness described how Bivolaru raped a 16-year-old Hungarian girl.[84] [85]
Bivolaru gained a bad reputation in Romania in the 1990s, through advising his adepts to drink urine, both as urine therapy and as paraphilia, while the religion scholar Zdeněk Vojtíšek says that is a vanilla mystical ritual in some religion.[86]
Vojtíšek described in 2018 that Bivolaru sexually initiates women in an atmosphere of secrecy and drinking urine, but ultimately concluded that the bad press which MISA had is due to an unavoidable misunderstanding.[87]
According to Crikey, "women were coerced into gaining weight to conform to Bivolaru's tastes."[88]