Gregorian Bivolaru

Gregorian Bivolaru (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), a former member of the International Yoga Federation. 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.^[1]

Early life

Gregorian Bivolaru, born in Tărtăşeşti, Ilfov County, (now in Dâmboviţa County), Romania, completed high school in Bucharest and joined the Antrepriza de Metrou Bucuresti as a plumber in 1971. He began practicing yoga at the age of 17.^[2]

In 1977, he was charged for the distribution of pornographic materials and sentenced to one year in prison, but he did not complete it due to an amnesty granted by then General Secretary of the Romanian Communist Party, Nicolae Ceauşescu.^[1] On 17 April 1984, he was arrested and sentenced to two years in jail for the conspiracy against Nicolae Ceauşescu.^[2]

Helicopter view of a yogic yang spiral of approximately 3,500 people, Costineşti, Romania, 27 August 2005

MISA

After the Romanian Revolution of 1989, practicing yoga became legal again^{[citation needed]} and it was at this time when Gregorian Bivolaru founded the Movement for Spiritual Integration into the Absolute (MISA).^{[citation needed]} MISA included 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.

Gregorian Bivolaru was an honorary member of the European Yoga Council until April 2008 when he was excluded from it and affiliated associations. Shri Yogacharya Ajita, as President of European Yoga Council of European Yoga Alliance, 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 Bilovaru and all people linked to the MISA/NATHA organization are immediately expelled from our organization and that we stop their membership, because it has been proven that they are not busy with Yoga in whatever form, that they even use Yoga as a cover for illegal practices, that they do not respect the rules and standards of our organization, that they show an unheard lack of moral integrity, and cannot be convinced to change their attitude."

Legal problems

Gregorian Bivolaru has been victim of two serious attempts on his life (in 1994 and 1995).

Police abuses where recorded in 1997 by 2 major human rights organizations: APADOR-CH and Amnesty International.

On 18 March 2004 the authorities - prosecutors, police, gendarmes, secret services - started an unprecedented campaign against MISA. Troops were sent to private houses of MISA yoga practitioners.

A warrant of arrest was issued on 31 May 2004 against Mr. Bivolaru, who flees the country.

In 2005, he was charged with eight counts, including sex with a minor, tax evasion, and illegally crossing the border to escape prosecution.^[3] In March 2005, Bivolaru asked for asylum in Sweden, claiming that he feared persecution in Romania. On April 4, 2005, the Swedish police of Malmö detained Bivolaru. The accusation of having sex with a minor was based on a declaration given by a 17 year-old girl who later retracted the accusation, saying it had been given under pressure. On April 15, 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).^[4]

On 21 October 2005, the Supreme Court of Sweden rejected the extradition request and set Bivolaru free.^[5] The Supreme Court judges concluded that Bivolaru would not receive a fair trial in Romania. Anette Swedow, the chief prosecutor in the Gregorian Bivolaru case declared: The final decision is that should Bivolaru be extradited in Romania, he runs the risk of being deported, persecuted and harassed, because of his religious businesses he applies within the yoga movement.^[5]

This decision was relayed to the Romanian Ministry of Justice on 16 December 2005. In response, the Romanian Justice Minister, Monica Macovei, sent the general prosecutor a request to verify the manner in which the investigations in this case took place. The same request has been sent to the president of the Romanian Supreme Court, Dan Lupaşcu.

The decision of the Swedish Immigration Authority that Gregorian Bivolaru should be granted political asylum was made public on the last day of 2005.

Currently the case is under monitor by independent organizations who fight for reforms in the Romanian Justice, like "SoJust". The September 2006 alternative report in the Human rights chapter shows:

"The prosecutor now investigates organized crime and human traffic cases concerning some of the MISA members. One has instituted the measure of “insuring arrestment” on 70 buildings for covering the damages that they claimed. Officially, one has noted that, under the cover of courses for initiation in the yoga practices, the investigated persons attracted, manipulated and exploited the participants (of whom many were minor) to their own personal interest, thus endangering their psychic development. Nevertheless, from the contradictory data published by the media, there are only 8 victims. Some of the investigated persons were sent to trial. A completely unusual thing for Romania, the entire indictment was made public by the penal prosecution body, which among violating the rights to an equitable trial and the protection of the investigated persons’ private life, may be yet another element for the manipulation of public opinion.^{[citation needed]}

With all the internal investigations performed by the CSM or the judiciary ones performed as a consequence to the filed complaints, the presumptive negative aspects concerning the actual development of the investigation were not cleared up. From the 55 penal complaints that were filed in May 2004, only 9 were retained in view of solving at the Prosecutor’s Office, and those for a single offence. The rest got a non-prosecution resolution, without even questioning the victims; at present, this resolution is appealed at the Supreme Court.[..]^{[citation needed]}

The inefficiency of the internal investigations concerning the claimed abuses is all the more serious as Bivolaru got the asylum and then the refugee status in a foreign country. From this viewpoint, the competence or the bona fide of the Romanian bodies is seriously questioned."^{[citation needed]}

The lawyers of Gregorian Bivolaru filed two applications to the European Court for Human Rights. The applications cover the violations that occurred while issuing the two arrest warrants.

On January 18, 2011, Bivolaru's trial was, for the tenth time, postponed again until March 23, 2011, marking his case as one of the oldest in the Cluj court.^[6][3]

Notes

1. ^ (Romanian) 16 April 2005, "Guru Bivolaru are mandat pentru crima organizata" (Evenimentul Zilei)
2. ^ (Romanian) 5 April 2005, "Gregorian Bivolaru a fost arestat in Suedia" (Ştiri România On-Line)
3. ^ (Romanian) 6 April 2005, "Cum a trecut Guru granita?" (Evenimentul Zilei)
4. ^ (Romanian) 21 April 2005, "Guru Bivolaru a iesit ilegal din Romania" (Evenimentul Zilei)
5. ^ (Romanian) 27 March 2004, "A evadat in '84 din arestul Securitatii" (Jurnalul Naţional)
6. ^ (Romanian) "DECIZIA Nr.211 din 1 noiembrie 2000" (Legile Romaniei)
7. ^ (Romanian) 1 April 2005, "Gabriel Bivolaru si Gregorian Bivolaru sunt frati" (stiri.kappa.ro)
8. ^ (Romanian) 21 October 2005, "Guru mediteaza in libertate" (Evenimentul Zilei)
9. ^ 23 October 2005, "Gregorian Bivolaru became a free man as per the ruling issued by the Swedish Supreme Court of Justice" (Evenimentul Zilei)
10. ^ (Romanian) 17 December 2005, "Macovei cere verificarea cazului Gregorian Bivolaru" (Evenimentul Zilei)
11. ^ (Romanian) 3 January 2006, "Suedia îi acordă azil politic lui Gregorian Bivolaru" (BBC Romanian)
12. ^ (Romanian) 8 February 2006, "Doua condamnari pentru orgii sexuale" (România Liberă)
13. "APADOR-CH Annual Report 2004"
14. "APADOR-CH Annual Report 1997"
15. "Human Rights in the OSCE Region: Romania Report 2005 (Events of 2004)"
16. "CONCERNS IN EUROPE Amnesty International - January - June 1997"
17. "Amnesty International - Report 2005"
18. "SOJUST - Independent Report on the Justice System in Romania - Cap. V. HUMAN RIGHTS IN ROMANIA"
19. "U.S. State Department’s 2006 International Religious Freedom Report - Romania"
20. "Public instigations to persecution by High Officials against Gregorian Bivolaru and Yoga practitioners"
21. "Mass media campaign against Gregorian Bivolaru and MISA, 1990 - 2004"
22. "Mass media campaign against Gregorian Bivolaru and MISA starting with 18 March 2004"
23. "Articles regarding the Gregorian Bivolaru case in the international media"
24. "Swedish expert, Karl Erik Nylund’s report on MISA and Gregorian Bivolaru"
25. "The Report on MISA and NATHA of the Swedish Sociologists from Skop-Research"

References

1. ^ Kuchler, Teresa. "Sweden grants asylum to citizen from EU candidate Romania". EU Observer. The Ross Institute: Internet Archives for the Study of Destructive Cults, Controversial Groups and Movements. http://www.rickross.com/reference/general/general793.html. Retrieved 30 January 2011. 
2. ^ Alexandru, Ion. "A evadat in din arestul Securitatii". Jurnalul. http://www.jurnalul.ro/special/special/a-evadat-in-a-84-din-arestul-securitatii-70890.html. Retrieved 30 January 2011. 
3. ^ ^{a b} Ionita, Raluca. "Amanare din lipsa de procedura in dosarul liderului MISA, Gregorian Bivolaru". Romania Online. http://stiri.rol.ro/Amanare-din-lipsa-de-procedura-in-dosarul-liderului-MISA-Gregorian-Bivolaru-94276.html. Retrieved 30 January 2011. 
4. ^ "Guru Bivolaru are mandat pentru crima organizata". 9 am News. 16 Aprilie 2005. http://www.9am.ro/stiri-revista-presei/Social/8928/Guru-Bivolaru-are-mandat-pentru-crima-organizata.html. Retrieved 30 January 2011. 
5. ^ ^{a b} "The Decision of The Supreme Court of Justice in Stockholm". Official Translation. The Supreme Court of Justice (Stockholm, Sweden). http://www.gregorianbivolaru.com/docs/asylum/Decision_Supreme_Court_Sweden_21_Oct_05.pdf. Retrieved 30 January 2011. 
6. ^ Ravoiu, Tudor. "Bivolaru, o “fantoma” in Tribunalul Cluj". CityNews.ro. http://www.citynews.ro/cluj/eveniment-29/bivolaru-o-fantoma-in-tibunalul-cluj-106405/. Retrieved 30 January 2011. 

External links

• "Official Page of Mişcarea de Integrare Spirituală în Absolut"
• "Website dedicated to following the legal situation of Gregorian Bivolaru"
• (Romanian) Bivolaru on the Most Wanted page of the Romanian Police

Persondata
Name	Bivolaru, Gregorian
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	12 March 1952
Place of birth
Date of death
Place of death