Sergei Torop, 59 who claims to be Jesus Christ has been arrested for illegal Religion and fraud.
Russian authorities mounted a special operation to arrest a former traffic police officer who claims to be the reincarnation of Jesus and has run a cult based in the depths of Siberia for the past three decades.
Sergei was arrested with two of his aides after Helicopters and armed officers stormed communities known to his followers as Vissarion.
According to reports after he lost his job as a traffic officer in 1989, he claimed that he experienced an “awakening” as the Soviet regime began to collapse. In 1991 he founded a movement now known as the Church of the Last Testament.
He was arrested on several charges, including founding an illegal religious organization, extorting money from his followers and subjecting people to emotional abuse and grievous bodily harm.
“In order to extract income from religious activities, they attracted funds from citizens and also used psychological violence against them,” investigators said in a Russian news release. “As a result of prolonged exposure, some of the followers of the religious organization suffered serious harm to their health.”
