The authorities have turned Gregorian Bivolaru, the leader of the Spiritual Movement of Integration into the Absolute (MISA) into a hero. If this new scandal hadn’t been concocted in the labs of the ruling party, the “guru” would have remained what he had been up to that moment: a controversial yoga follower, intoxicated with the prophylactic virtues of urine and seduced by the philosophy of the clitoris, once attributed to Gelu Voican Voiculescu, with the hard- to- fix image of a man playing the part of a magnet for lost underage girls in search for the absolute. But, thanks to the attack against him by the investigators, “Grig” was the subject of a large-scale media campaign, pitied, just good to be added to the rich collection of victims of post-revolutionaries regimes.
About a year ago, “Evenimentul zilei” reported about the real estate wealth accumulated by MISA on the territory of the Bucharest district administered by mayor Vanghelie. The solely journalistic approach was disturbed by a few followers of the guru who tried to seize the camera of the photojournalist who had taken photos of three of the houses of the group led by Gregorian Bivolaru. The rebellious reaction, opposite to the genuine yoga spirit, gave us the impression that behind the locked doors of MISA there was a world which had many things to hide. The other day, when the investigators launched the attack against the organization, we assumed that the police found evidence for all the suspicions in the past. We don’t know for sure even today what Gregorian Bivolaru is accused of officially.
We hear through the microphones of some reporters who got carried away, about drug trafficking, prostitution, pornography, rape, but no prosecutor or policeman is able to present the press some evidence. What has happened in the past few days is even worse. An underage girl is urged to make some statements, she is taken by masked policemen to the prosecutor’s office and the Forensic Medicine Institute. At a certain moment, no one knew anything about her anymore. Was she remanded in custody? Has any charge been brought against her? What evidence can be a statement made by an underage girl, along with the investigators, without any lawyer or family with her? The episode about Gregorian Bivolaru’s arrest at the customs check point is also shocking. Even if he may be detached from this world, the guru couldn’t have been so confused as to cross the border illegally when no one prevented him from leaving the country. The fact that he took a few steps beyond the Romanian barrier does in no way justify his being handcuffed and remanded in custody. We didn’t find out what charged were pressed against the MISA leader in this case either.
Crossing the border illegally? Let’s be serious! The Bucharest Court of Appeal realized how things stand eventually and ruled in favour of Bivolaru’s release, not before he was sent from court, penal investigation department, and the police until he grew a beard. Meanwhile, the public debate on the issue touched a sore spot too. Gabriel Andreescu is right. The ones who are to be held accountable for the scandal, forced to make lots of statements to prove they are innocent are the accused and not the investigators, as it should happen actually. Just like in the case of magistrate Andreea Ciuca, and din many other cases, the same abusive arrest are taking shape, which in the future would be complained against at the European Court for Human Rights (ECHR) and the people would pay for the damages. The government is announcing great achievements under the NATO and the European Union umbrella while in the country the civil rights of certain citizens – be they angelic or dubious – are violated with an Euro-Atlantic smile. Now the question isn’t “why?” anymore. The question is “who’s next?”