Claimed to Be the "Second Coming of the Savior," Dominated the Community
Physical and Psychological Abuse, Along with Financial Exploitation
A Russian cult leader who claimed to be the reincarnation of Jesus and inflicted physical and psychological harm on his followers, as well as seizing their property, has been sentenced to prison.
According to Fox News and other sources on July 5 (local time), a court in Novosibirsk, Siberia, Russia, sentenced Sergei Torop, a 64-year-old former Russian police officer who claimed to be the "Second Coming of Jesus Christ," to 12 years in prison. Vladimir Vedernikov, who was active alongside him, also received a 12-year sentence, while Vadim Redkin was sentenced to 11 years. All three are to be incarcerated in a maximum-security correctional facility.
Under the guise of religion, Torop committed acts of violence and financial exploitation against his followers, ultimately becoming a serious criminal. In the period of chaos and poverty following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, he suddenly began religious activities, presenting himself as a "messenger of God." He later called himself "Vissarion" and established a religious community called the "Church of the Last Testament" in a remote part of Siberia.
The Torop group inflicted psychological suffering on at least 16 people, with six of them also subjected to physical violence. Within the community, it was reported that the consumption of meat, as well as alcohol, tobacco, profanity, and even the use of money, were strictly prohibited, and daily life was thoroughly controlled according to the leader's instructions. Some followers lived communally in self-sufficient villages in Siberia, known as the "Abode of Dawn" or the "City of the Sun," living according to the leader's teachings.
In 2020, the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) conducted a large-scale operation, deploying helicopters, to arrest Torop and his close associates.
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