Sergei Torop arrested

REUTERS. Cult leader Sergei Torop’s ‘independent state’ falls foul of the Kremlin. Every Sunday, an ex-traffic policeman who claimed to be the second coming of Christ was venerated by thousands of followers in the commune they had built in the Siberian wilderness. Better known as Vissarion, he would gather the faithful on a hillside to reveal his “teachings” — a mixture of Orthodox Christianity, Buddhism, and environmentalism. Now, instead of the picturesque surroundings of rural Russia, Mr Torop, 59, is in a prison cell in Novosibirsk, Siberia’s biggest city, facing up to 12 years in a penal colony on charges of extorting money and using “psychological violence” on his followers. He denies the claims.