Gregorian Bivolaru
Encyclopedia
Gregorian Bivolaru (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 Romania
n authorities.
, 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.
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
. On 17 April 1984, he was arrested and sentenced to two years in jail for the conspiracy against Nicolae Ceauşescu
.
, practicing yoga became legal again and it was at this time when Gregorian Bivolaru founded the Movement for Spiritual Integration into the Absolute (MISA). 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."
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. 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 ashram
s and forcing them to work without being paid).
On 21 October 2005, the Supreme Court of Sweden
rejected the extradition
request and set Bivolaru free. 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.
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.
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.[..]
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."
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
.
Supreme Court of Sweden
The Supreme Court of Sweden is the supreme court and the third and final instance in all civil and criminal cases in Sweden. Before a case can be decided by the Supreme Court, leave to appeal must be obtained, and with few exceptions, leave to appeal can be granted only when the case is of...
agreed to grant political refugee status to Bivolaru in response to his claims of persecution by Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
n authorities.
Early life
Gregorian Bivolaru, born in TărtăşeştiTartasesti
Tărtăşeşti is a commune in the Dâmboviţa County, southern Romania, located 30 km northwest of Bucharest. It has a population of 5,121. It is composed of three villages: Bâldana, Gulia and Tărtăşeşti....
, Ilfov County
Ilfov County
Ilfov is the county that surrounds Bucharest, the capital of Romania. It used to be largely rural, but after the fall of communism, many of the county's villages and communes developed into high-income commuter towns, which act like suburbs or satellites of Bucharest...
, (now in Dâmboviţa County
Dâmbovita County
Dâmbovița ; also spelt Dîmbovița is a county of Romania, in Muntenia, with the capital city at Târgoviște.-Demographics:In 2002, it had a population of 541,763 and the population density was 134/km²...
), Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
, completed high school in Bucharest
Bucharest
Bucharest is the capital municipality, cultural, industrial, and financial centre of Romania. It is the largest city in Romania, located in the southeast of the country, at , and lies on the banks of the Dâmbovița River....
and joined the Antrepriza de Metrou Bucuresti as a plumber in 1971. He began practicing yoga at the age of 17.
In 1977, he was charged for the distribution of pornographic materials
Pornography
Pornography or porn is the explicit portrayal of sexual subject matter for the purposes of sexual arousal and erotic satisfaction.Pornography may use any of a variety of media, ranging from books, magazines, postcards, photos, sculpture, drawing, painting, animation, sound recording, film, video,...
and sentenced to one year in prison, but he did not complete it due to an amnesty
Amnesty
Amnesty is a legislative or executive act by which a state restores those who may have been guilty of an offense against it to the positions of innocent people, without changing the laws defining the offense. It includes more than pardon, in as much as it obliterates all legal remembrance of the...
granted by then General Secretary
General Secretary
The office of general secretary is staffed by the chief officer of:*The General Secretariat for Macedonia and Thrace, a government agency for the Greek regions of Macedonia and Thrace...
of the Romanian Communist Party
Romanian Communist Party
The Romanian Communist Party was a communist political party in Romania. Successor to the Bolshevik wing of the Socialist Party of Romania, it gave ideological endorsement to communist revolution and the disestablishment of Greater Romania. The PCR was a minor and illegal grouping for much of the...
, Nicolae Ceauşescu
Nicolae Ceausescu
Nicolae Ceaușescu was a Romanian Communist politician. He was General Secretary of the Romanian Communist Party from 1965 to 1989, and as such was the country's second and last Communist leader...
. On 17 April 1984, he was arrested and sentenced to two years in jail for the conspiracy against Nicolae Ceauşescu
Nicolae Ceausescu
Nicolae Ceaușescu was a Romanian Communist politician. He was General Secretary of the Romanian Communist Party from 1965 to 1989, and as such was the country's second and last Communist leader...
.
MISA
After the Romanian Revolution of 1989Romanian Revolution of 1989
The Romanian Revolution of 1989 was a series of riots and clashes in December 1989. These were part of the Revolutions of 1989 that occurred in several Warsaw Pact countries...
, practicing yoga became legal again and it was at this time when Gregorian Bivolaru founded the Movement for Spiritual Integration into the Absolute (MISA). MISA included lectures on related disciplines such as Kashmirian philosophy and Ayurveda
Ayurveda
Ayurveda or ayurvedic medicine is a system of traditional medicine native to India and a form of alternative medicine. In Sanskrit, words , meaning "longevity", and , meaning "knowledge" or "science". The earliest literature on Indian medical practice appeared during the Vedic period in India,...
(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
Tax evasion
Tax evasion is the general term for efforts by individuals, corporations, trusts and other entities to evade taxes by illegal means. Tax evasion usually entails taxpayers deliberately misrepresenting or concealing the true state of their affairs to the tax authorities to reduce their tax liability,...
, and illegally crossing the border to escape prosecution. In March 2005, Bivolaru asked for asylum
Right of asylum
Right of asylum is an ancient juridical notion, under which a person persecuted for political opinions or religious beliefs in his or her own country may be protected by another sovereign authority, a foreign country, or church sanctuaries...
in Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
, claiming that he feared persecution in Romania. On April 4, 2005, the Swedish police
Swedish Police Service
The Swedish Police Service is a collection of Government agencies concerned with police matters in Sweden. The Swedish Police Service consists of 28,500 employees of which 39 per cent are women. The staff consists of 20,000 police officers of which 25 per cent are women and 8,500 civilian staff of...
of Malmö
Malmö
Malmö , in the southernmost province of Scania, is the third most populous city in Sweden, after Stockholm and Gothenburg.Malmö is the seat of Malmö Municipality and the capital of Skåne County...
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 ashram
Ashram
Traditionally, an ashram is a spiritual hermitage. Additionally, today the term ashram often denotes a locus of Indian cultural activity such as yoga, music study or religious instruction, the moral equivalent of a studio or dojo....
s and forcing them to work without being paid).
On 21 October 2005, the Supreme Court of Sweden
Supreme Court of Sweden
The Supreme Court of Sweden is the supreme court and the third and final instance in all civil and criminal cases in Sweden. Before a case can be decided by the Supreme Court, leave to appeal must be obtained, and with few exceptions, leave to appeal can be granted only when the case is of...
rejected the extradition
Extradition
Extradition is the official process whereby one nation or state surrenders a suspected or convicted criminal to another nation or state. Between nation states, extradition is regulated by treaties...
request and set Bivolaru free. 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.
This decision was relayed to the Romanian Ministry of Justice on 16 December 2005. In response, the Romanian Justice Minister, Monica Macovei
Monica Macovei
Monica Luisa Macovei is a Romanian politician, lawyer and former prosecutor, currently a Member of the European Parliament from the Democratic Liberal Party. She was the Minister of Justice of Romania in the first cabinet of Prime Minister Călin Popescu-Tăriceanu...
, 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
High Court of Cassation and Justice
The High Court of Cassation and Justice is Romania's supreme court, and the court of last resort. It is the equivalent of France's Cour de cassation and serves a similar function to other courts of cassation around the world...
, 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.
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.[..]
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."
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
Palace of Justice, Cluj-Napoca
The Palace of Justice in Cluj-Napoca, on Dorobanţilor Street, no.2, is an eclectic structure, built between 1898 and 1902, after the plans of the association Epitotarsasag, Kotsis, Smiel, Fodor es Reisinger...
.