Unmasking the human rights organisations CESNUR and Soteria International as MISA-ATMAN Cult apologists and lobbyists.
This research has been translated from Romanian and was first published on exmisa
The lobbyist friends of MISA-ATMAN submitted an invocation-appeal to the Georgian authorities to release the two Stoians on bail, quoted:
MISA: Appeal to the Georgian authorities for the release of Mihail and Adina Stoian
Eleven Scholars and Human Rights Activists Call on Georgia to Resist the Long Arm of French Anti-Sect Repression and release the two MISA leaders. We, the undersigned, respectfully request the Georgian authorities:
(a) release on bail , as soon as possible, Mihail and Adina Stoian, arrested in Georgia on 22 August 2024
(b) to refuse their extradition to France, on the basis that their alleged "complicity in the rape" would have been achieved through "mental manipulation" and "abuse of weakness" on women whom he would have convinced to embrace the beliefs of the Romanian yoga group MISA, anchored in foreign philosophies and to have private meetings with the founder of MISA. 🔗
comments :
➤ This call is made for MISA by "neutral, uninvolved persons and bodies", while MISA avoids taking a position official in relation to the case of the Stoian family, for the following obvious reasons:
- Not to undermine the thesis that schools in the ATMAN Federation are independent
- Not to give away the fact that ATMAN is a confederation created on the basis of MISA, having Bivolaru and Mihai Stoian as "godfathers" 🔗 , in order not to complicate their legal situation
Unable to act directly, MISA is happy with the actions of the "neutral supporters".
As for the "neutrality" of the signatories of the appeal, it should be noted that, among them, the named M. Introvigne, S. Palmer and W. Fautre have taken firm positions on the side of MISA repeatedly, and Camelia Marin is director of SOTERIA International (an organization exclusively run by MISA members), being even a student of the movement (I quote, "herself a student of MISA, the author describes her personal journey and how she decided to investigate whether the allegations against her yoga school were true and where they came from" , source 🔗 ).
It is a well-known tactic of MISA to hide under all kinds of organizations, by which they seek to manipulate public opinion and international authorities. French journalists had to deal with such a manoeuvre (see this video 🔗 from min2:sec19).
➤ A principle of justice requires that witnesses who appear in a trial have no ties of any kind - belonging, friendship or enmity - to the parties involved. So this call, which is a kind of testimony in favour of ATMAN leaders, does not respect this condition of impartiality and objectivity.
➤ We do not know the charges contained in the international warrant issued by the French authorities, on the basis of which they were detained in Georgia the two Stoians. MISA-friendly activists only talk about “complicity in rape through mental manipulation and abuse of weakness on women whom he would have persuaded to have private meetings with the founder of MISA".
But a Georgia newspaper, which says it has exclusive access to the case materials, is talking about more allegations contained in the arrest warrant 🔗 : sexual exploitation of women, human trafficking, kidnapping, illegal deprivation of liberty, repeated rape.
The defender of the interests of the prisoners would have confirmed to the newspaper that the file concerns the accusation of sexual exploitation.
It seems that the pro-MISA lobbyists watered down the allegations contained in the warrant, which appears to be a foolish move, since the Georgian judges have before their eyes the actual text of the warrant issued by the French authorities, in which the charges are written very clearly.
For this reason, it is obvious that this appeal is not written for the Georgia courts as much as for the MISA-ATMAN students, who are facing the undeserved suffering of some innocent martyrs, because of the abusive actions of the French authorities .
➤ But there is another problem with this first passage: it contains a clear reference to “women who were persuaded to have private meetings with the founder of MISA", while the manipulators from MISA avoided mentioning Bivolaru's name like incense in such a context. There is no mention anywhere of the accusation of rape and sexual abuse committed by Bivolaru during the sexual tantric "initiations", but only the accusations of deprivation of freedom and sexual exploitation, which appear exaggerated and therefore less credible.
In only one case did the people from MISA approach this taboo subject, when they parodied the German podcast "Toxic Tantra", but without giving names, in the article posted on the official website and entitled "Toxic journalism: How to document yourself a year for an eight-episode podcast plus a bonus, but still skirting the truth”:
...All three also talk about certain erotic experiences to which they would have had access, according to their own choice, and which later they came to consider them traumatic experiences. [...] The person named Eva had a shorter story, about an experience since 2007 and about the fact that he later decided to give up the spiritual path. She is neither the first nor the last to quit.
Spiritual tests are not inventions for journalists to scoff at. Some pass them, others don't. When you are given a lot, and tests are more complex. Eva admits that her experience in 2007 was voluntary, and when she asked to go home she was elegantly driven to the station. 🔗
On the
other hand, the lobbyists of MISA do not avoid exposing the situation on its
face, since they are not directly involved:
The article "From behind the scenes of the Bivolaru case. 1.” - author M.
Introvigne:
Police said they freed several women who had been held captive and sexually abused by Bivolaru. 🔗
There were accusations that women were "brainwashed" in other countries and taken to France to have sexual relations with Bivolaru.
This is the essence of the case in Finland and the statements given by a handful of former members turned enemies of MISA. 🔗
The article "From behind the scenes of the Bivolaru case. 4.” - author M. Introvigne:
They contacted women who were not French and who told the cap and sword story of how they were brainwashed in their countries where they attended MISA courses, were invited to go to Paris, were waited on by drivers in Paris, blindfolded and taken to locations from France where they were forced to have sex with Bivolaru. Nothing new so far, except for the claim that on November 28, 2023 several women were held captive in France to be abused by Bivolaru. Clearly the French and other police had read the sensational accounts of women who claimed to have been "brainwashed" and taken to France to be abused. 🔗
The article "Police raids against MISA in France, November 28, 2023. 2." - author S. Palmer:
They kept asking me: «Where are the girls? Precisely women live in the house». "They are not women", I told them, "only men who work in construction".
They asked me: "Where is the room in the house for erotic video chat?". I told them there is no internet in the whole house.
So it seems they thought we were part of a human trafficking network . 🔗
The fact that those from MISA pass over in silence some of the accusations against Bivolaru and the leaders of ATMAN, shows that they feel like a fly in the hat.
Then, since these allegations are well-known anyway, their concealment is done just to avoid them reaching to the ears of their own students who, knowing that such facts have been repeatedly talked about for many years 🔗 🔗 🔗 🔗 , would be inclined to give them credence, according to the reasoning that "there is still something, there is no smoke without fire".
Other flies on the hat are buzzing in another article at MISA, ”Où sont les victimes?":
"A few, more emotional, it seems that they still signed something, but more of a "notice" than a complaint against someone who would have done something to them" 🔗
"We already know, from direct experience, that there will always be people (unsatisfied with who knows why, frustrated, driven by some personal vendetta
or simply wanting attention and/or money) to pose as victims or make false statements against whomever is needed.
What does it matter that the facts happened 3 or 5 or 7 years ago, and you only now realized that you are a victim?" 🔗
➤ Since bail is sought, who will pay? To who? The Stoians, what are they doing 🔗 , they were just movie stars! 🔗
➤ I have previously shown that the MISA lobbyists listed in this appeal only the charges of "complicity in rape" and "abuse of women's weakness", ignoring accusations such as "human trafficking and sexual exploitation".
The reason for this manoeuvre is revealed in the following, I quote from the text of the call:
(We ask that you release them and refuse their extradition to France) considering
- that "mental manipulation" and "abuse of weakness" are imaginary crimes and therefore not part of international law,
- that these are defined as crimes in France, but not in most other democratic countries,
- the Stoians case is a by-product of the criminal prosecution of the founder of MISA, Gregorian Bivolaru, who is currently in prison in France with several collaborators. 🔗
comment :
Indeed, it is common practice in extradition debates to judge whether the charges comply with international law or even form part of the laws of the country where the extradition is being tried.
But if the mentioned Georgian newspaper is right and the warrant includes not only "special" charges, but also those of trafficking, seizure and sexual exploitation, which not only exist in international law, but are a scourge of our times, what is the appeal?
To paraphrase, it is a by-product of the biased attitude of some who think they are "scholars" but who, as can be seen further, not only do they not know what objectivity is, but not even the basic principles of justice.
➤ In this sense, "they continue to expose their ignorance regarding justice, quoting from the appeal:
"We are scholars of religious studies and new religious movements and human rights defenders with varying levels of knowledge of MISA.
Some of us know the Stoians personally and we appreciate, among other things, the work of Mihai Stoian through the NGO Soteria International in favour of freedom of religion or belief for all." 🔗
comment :
Not only do the signatories admit that they are related to the accused, but also reveal that one of them is active within one of the signatory organizations of the appeal, Soteria International! Wow, what impartiality!!! In that case, good luck with your call...
Do scholars and lobbyists know the pornographic past of the two they present as martyrs of esoteric eroticism?
➤ The gross ignorance of the signatories of the appeal regarding the functioning of justice is evidently increasing because, in the following, they list so-called arguments that relate only to the process in France, in no case to the one in Georgia, which must concern only the request for extradition and not the guilt or innocence of those detained, which is judged in France!
What does the Georgia court have to do with "France's hostility to spiritual movements, the frail pillars of the case in France and the contradictions in the narrative of the French authorities" (which, by the way, is actually based only on the accounts of MISA students)?
The imbecility of the signatory "scholars" goes so far that they began to tell the Georgians that the victims who filed complaints against MISA/ATMAN leaders are "apostates" who hate MISA/ATMAN!
The signatories of the appeal also plead "Bivolaru's innocence", which, however, has to do with the extradition from Georgia as much as Stoian has to do with authentic spirituality, I quote:
Bivolaru was convicted only once, in Romania, for an alleged sexual relationship with a 17-year-old student (the law punishes relationships between teachers and students). That the prosecution of Bivolaru in this case was biased was recognized by the Swedish Supreme Court, who refused extradition from Sweden to Romania in 2005, which led to Bivolaru being granted asylum in Sweden.
The young trainee has consistently denied having had a sexual relationship with Bivolaru until now. 🔗
... But Bivolaru admitted, so that he could be released on parole 🔗 after which, in the spirit of truth (Satya) that always characterized him, he denied as soon as he left the prison gate 🔗 . But this is what the unbiased and fair scholars failed to specify...
➤ The text of the appeal ends on the same note of stupor that rather buries the signatories, I quote:
It is important for the Georgian authorities to realize that this is not an "ordinary" case of sexual abuse and rape.
These are rituals involving sacred erotic practices freely chosen by the vast majority of MISA students after being well informed about them. However, a few apostates, the French anti-cult state agency and French prosecutors qualifies them as pretexts for abuse." 🔗
comment :
So the "supporters" admit that the "rituals of sacred eroticism" do take place and that they are "chosen freely by the overwhelming majority of MISA learners after being well informed about them", from which it follows that there is still an overwhelming minority of students who were not informed and therefore did not choose freely! That is exactly what the French prosecutors claim! Case closed!
How idiotic must the callers be? With foams, as it turns out next, quoted:
Stoians are clearly "not dangerous". Even if someone admits (but we don't) that they suggested women meet Bivolaru, exposing them to possible rape by him, Bivolaru is now in prison and thus the risk no longer exists. 🔗
comment :
The Stoians "clearly" are not being prosecuted for rape, but for complicity. They are not detained because they are dangerous, but because they evade criminal investigation, since they arrived "for tourist purposes" precisely in Georgia at the moment when action was taken to produce an international search warrant for them. If you are innocent you have nothing to fear and would not try to escape.
➤ In the end, the signatories of the appeal play the "Swedish card", which Bivolaru once also played, with the help of Mihai Stoian 🔗 :
Given the official campaigns against "cults" in general, and against MISA in particular in France, not to mention from the position of the press, it is practically impossible that, if they are extradited there, Mihai and Adina Stoian will have a fair trial, respecting their rights, human rights and freedom of religion or belief. Consequently, there is no reason to keep the Stoians in prison pending a decision on their extradition from Georgia to France.
That alone already justifies a judicial review for the two "tourists"?
In conclusion: Being largely beside the point of the case, this
appeal, although addressed to the Georgian judiciary, sounds like a manipulative
message addressed to MISA-ATMAN students, written by the hand of some who are having
a job in MISA-ATMAN, or are even in the ranks of the organization themselves. It
has the classical MISA trademark qualities of deceit, tricks and manipulations
all over it.
More shocking is the fact that these two organisations, who claim to protect
human rights, seem to do anything to block justice in a case against a cult
that is accused of serious violations of human rights. Not for a split second
have these organisations and “scholars” shown any interest in the victims of
guru Bivolaru and his collaborators. That fact alone is already a serious
indication they are not interested in human rights at all and they don’t
deserve the term “scholar” or human rights activist.