The Price of Lies
The two contrary declarations of Simion Lupescu play key roles in the Romanian MISA case. Together with the situation of the “victim” Madalina Dumitru, who denies any criminal act against her, the contradicting declarations put the poignant question; is this a criminal case, or a show trial in continuation of Ceausescu’s persecutions?
The totalitarian regimes’ practice of framing unwanted persons through false declarations is still practiced today in Eastern Europe. But the more transparent and internationally connected the society becomes, the more difficult and costly this practice is. Cynically, the higher price is not paid to the liar, but by him.
In 2004 the Romanian yoga school MISA is raided by anti-terrorist forces in an attempt to destroy this spiritual movement. The leader Mr. Bivolaru escapes to Sweden where he is given asylum in 2005. His driver, the aging Simion Lupescu lost his job and in the terror that followed the raids he was caught by Romanian police and suggested to give false declarations regarding Mr. Bivolaru. When first refusing, he is subjected to serious threats. With the promise of anonymity he gives a false declaration, on which the prosecutor continue the case.
In the end the anonymity of Simion Lupescu is not protected by police and prosecutor. Because of the lies he is not any longer welcome in the spiritual movement.
Simion Lupescu manages to escape to Denmark where he makes a new declaration. Away from the Romanian pressure he takes back the false declaration against Mr. Bivolaru. The new declaration describes the threats of the Romanian police.
When returning home he finds the process irreversible. Based on his previous false declaration his friends are now prosecuted. Simion Lupescu decides to leave Bucharest.
The second declaration of Simion Lupescu receives support when the other key witness, Madalina Dumitru, is heard by the Swedish Supreme Court. Her statements of being forced to make false declaration, and that there is no base for the criminal accusation against Mr. Bivolaru is considered “highly credible” in the Swedish decision.
As Mr. Bivolaru receives asylum in Sweden and was acquitted trial and appeal courts in Romania, the situation of Simion Lupescu might have been forgotten, and he could have continued his new life as taxi driver in a rural Romanian village. The 12th April the Romanian Supreme Court decided that his second declaration no longer qualify as evidence in the case. As now only his first false declaration still stands and the show trial continues, Simion Lupescu chose to disappear again.
OFFICIAL STATEMENT
I, the undersigned Lupescu Simion, with the following identification documents: – ppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppp, in Bucharest, Romania and B.I. – Identity Document series R.D. no. 1111111, issued on 000000000 by the Bucharest 18th Police Station.
With regard to my statement from 10.10.2005, I wish to present the following elements and describe certain aspects:
A. I mention one more time that I withdraw my penal complaint as well as the allegations from the statements I gave as a plaintiff in the case file 6D/P/2004 of the Prosecutor’s Office by ICCJ, section DIICOT, file regarding Mr. Gregorian Bivolaru and other members of the yoga school organized by M.I.S.A. and that I renounce the civil claims brought forth until this day, 13.10.2005. Also I mention that the statements I submitted in this file, as well as the ones I gave as a witness, including the statements I gave as an “undercover witness”, when I was assigned the name of “Marinescu Vasile”, I gave them under pressure and death threat. They do not express the truth and my vision upon the things described and are therefore null and void and starting with this moment they must not cause any judicial consequences upon the persons charged in the files in question.
B. Initially, during January-February 2004, I was contacted by a person from the Bucharest Police, namely police officer Valentin who told me that MISA had filed certain complaints against me and that I was asked to go to the Prosecutor’s Office.
There I was questioned by prosecutor Cheaborsky who asked many things related to my personal life. I mentioned I did not want to make such statements regarding my believes, the yoga course and other such things. The prosecutor “asked” me to return to the Prosecutor’s Office in order to make various statements several times and I refused him. Next some I found some people waiting for me in the staircase of the apartment block where I was living. They told me I had to go where I was expected because I was needed there. One of the following days, I saw one of these men driving a car. He smiled at me and then drove towards me at high speed. Next he pulled the brakes making a lot of noise. After he by-passed me at the last moment, he told me that I should behave and be good and do what I was asked, otherwise his car brakes would no longer hold. Another time he told me not to go to the yoga course anymore or contact anyone from the course. After a period when I was thus intimidated, followed and threatened, I accepted to go to the Prosecutor’s Office. On that occasion I met several prosecutors and other various persons “dealing” with me. In my personal life, I contacted my parents and asked fro their help. I wanted to go to their place in order to live there, as I believed that I could that way escape the one threatening me, but my parents refused me.
I had rented the apartment where I lived in Bucharest until May the 30th 2004, using some of my wife’s money. Until May 2004, I made all the statements I was asked by the Romanian authorities in charge of my and of the MISA file. I was video and audio recorded; I was photographed in various situations when I was either writing statements or identifying photos, going on the field and doing many other things. I asked them why they were doing that and they said that was the procedure – to be video recorded.
After I accepted to write all the statements such as they were dictated to me, I wanted to leave Bucharest and get away form all this “anguish”. So I moved to Curtea de Argeş together with my wife.
After a few weeks, the persons who had followed me in Bucharest returned and asked me to turn on my mobile phone that I had turned off on purpose. I turned my phone back on and shortly after, someone called me and set a meting with a man called Bogdan Vlad, about whom I found out he was a lawyer. Now he was supposed to be our lawyer. I said we had no money and we could afford a lawyer but he replied that someone else was paying and that we should not worry. Then he showed me the documents that designated him to be our defense lawyer and we signed them. We tried to talk to our thus designated lawyer but he told us not to be stressed because he knew the case the he would answer to our questions later on. When we asked him to come and talk to us he systematically avoided us.
Afterwards we made some more statements regarding the MISA case and I tried to find my parents and get in touch with them. I succeeded in doing this and when I talked to him I asked them to allow my wife and I to live with them. I explain to them our situation and asked for their help. They eventually accepted quite unwillingly, that my and I should go to live with them. We could not stay long with my parents because they did not accept us. Next we went to stay with my wife’s parents. We lived there for the following period and during that time, whenever I went out of the house I could see the people who had followed me in Bucharest and everywhere else and who had “advised” me to behave and be good.
That was one of the main reasons for which I make these statements after leaving Romania, when I am outside its border.
C. With regard to the people who are charged by the prosecutors, I mention:
1. I met Mr. Gregorian Bivolaru 10 years ago and considering this long time since I know him, I can state that I am personally satisfied with him and with what he did for me. He helped me a lot and I owe him the fact that I crossed many stages of my life, from the spiritual point of view. Also, I can state that dl. Gregorian Bivolaru, as I met him closely, is a decent, modest human being, of an extraordinary morality, who abides by the laws of Christianity. He is a kind, special man and anyone can talk to him on any topic, in a harmonious manner. He is spontaneous and always willing to help everyone who needs it and asks for it.
Also, I can say that I was personally very close to him and endeavored to be next to him as much as could and also tried to understand him.
Next, I can say that through his way of living, Gregorian Bivolaru proved the special qualities that describe him as an extraordinary, extremely hard working and persevering man with an austere existence.
He would eat one time a day, for six days a week and one day he would fast. So he practically ate six meals a week, all of them vegetarian.
Due to his actions, Gregorian Bivolaru was noticed by many people who wanted to meet him in person and ask for his advices, with regard to various yoga issues, etc. Thus Gregorian Bivolaru could meet with 1000 people a week, for an average of 5-6 minutes with each yoga practitioner.
As a consequence of his yoga practice, Gregorian Bivolaru could reduce a lot the number of hours he used to sleep for. Thus he had even more time for work and he took care of even more activities he accomplished successfully. He could work for 48 hours in a row in order to write certain yoga courses or prepare the hundreds of spiritual characteristic books that we can find in the Romanian bookshops.
As for the advice that Gregorian Bivolaru offered to all those who asked for it, it had two essential features, besides being very wise:
a) no advice was compulsory for the one receiving it, each person receiving such an advice was free to act as he pleased;
b) the advice was always fully to advantage of the person asking for that advice and never for Gregorian Bivolaru’s benefit.
For all requests of advice, including the advice some persons demanded through notes or letters, or for the ones transmitted by myself, Gregorian Bivolaru wrote the answer on the back of the paper. The advice was completely benevolent and it was up to the person in question to follow or not the advice received. I personally know many people who did not follow Gregorian Bivolaru’s advice. I, myself, am one of such people. Next I used to regret it because if I had followed Bivolaru Gregorian’s advice I could have avoided many unpleasant events and wrong actions I did.
As many people wanted to practice yoga in Bucharest, they came to visit to ones who were already living in Bucharest. Also, several building were bought in order to be turned into spiritual establishments.
In these spiritual establishments, after approximately two years of living there, the yogi inhabitants concluded that they needed some common sense rules that would insure an ever more harmonious life together.
Thus the inhabitants of these establishments used to meet weekly or on special occasions, or maybe if a part of the water plumbing was broke or some other similar event occurred.
Upon common agreement, without any obligation towards Mr. Gregorian Bivolaru, people concluded that: not abiding by the rules commonly agreed upon by the inhabitants of the spiritual establishments should be penalized somehow through a money contribution for the fund destined to the utilities of the house in question, or a spiritual action should be done in order to help the one who made a mistake.
Therefore the so-called fines for the ones who destroyed some objects or forgot the stove or the boiler open (as such actions represented a danger for the integrity of the house and for the people’s state of health) were for the common expenses fund. They were neither taken by Gregorian Bivolaru nor by any other persons outside the establishment. They were also meant to awaken the state of attention and vigilance of the person in question and thus guarantee the safety of all people living there.
Actually, Gregorian Bivolaru did not attend the house meetings of the yogis from the spiritual establishments and also he was not the one who indicated what had to be done in certain situations.
There is no connection whatsoever between Gregorian Bivolaru and the fact that some practitioners from the course went to Japan. He did not take part in any way at the earnings they made and I did not see him take any money or other objects.
Gregorian Bivolaru did not send anyone to Japan or anywhere else. These people were free to do whatever they wanted. However it is true that I heard Gregorian Bivolaru telling these people to follow the rules or moral conduct and avoid any … (translator’s note: illegible in the original document) relationships.
With regard to the alleged relationship between Gregorian Bivolaru and Mmmmmmm Dddddddd, I personally have no knowledge of any such thing. I never saw or heard them say anything or make any gestures of a sexual nature in my presence. I personally never witnessed anything that might lead to the conclusion that such a relation exists, either during the spiritual cams from Herculane or from Costineşti.
Concerning the notion of “karma yoga”: to me, “karma yoga” signifies all the actions performed after doing a short meditations that is called the consecration and during which one aims at feeling the divine help manifesting through you.
The “karma yoga” technique begins when you wake up, but also before the main daily actions: when you eat, work, begin a certain definite activity, etc.
In the statements I had to give, I was forced to offer an interpretation for the notion of karma yoga, namely to equal it to unpaid work. I mention that the regularly paid work is also performed after the consecration of the action in question and it also falls in the category of karma yoga.
The activities performed by the yogi inhabitants of the spiritual establishments are performed to the best interest of the yogi communities, as well as the actions accomplished by the monks in a monastery. Those actions from the spiritual establishments are not performed for the benefit of Mr. Gregorian Bivolaru, who could not benefit from them anyway, as he did not actually live there.
The cooking, the cleaning, the painting and fixing of the broken windows, the painting of the door is for the benefit and interest of those who actually use the place in question.
Besides performing these activities in the establishment by turns, the persons in question also had a regular job. Such actions performed in the spiritual establishment take them a few hours a week, they are neither tiresome, nor are they imposed by anyone.
However in these spiritual establishments, the spiritual activity performed by the yogi inhabitants was important. If they wished to take advantage from the environment of a spiritual group, they had to act as such, just as the monks from a monastery have to attend the spiritual rites set by the Christian dogma.
However the people living in the spiritual establishments were not forced or compelled to perform any of the activities there. They could leave the spiritual establishment in question whenever they wanted, without any negative consequences if they did not want to attend the way of life in question with regard to which they had been previously notified before being allowed to stay within the community in question.
All the rules and even the manner for assessing their non-abidance or for setting the penalty, were known by absolutely all inhabitants, as well as by those who wished to become the inhabitants of such a spiritual establishment.
With regard to the charges brought to certain yoga teachers who allegedly sought to present Mr. Gregorian Bivolaru as a human being with paranormal powers, as an enlightened man whose advice had to be followed obediently, I mention that never, neither Mr. Gregorian Bivolaru ….. (translator’s note: illegible in the original document), nor Tttttttttttttt, Ccccccc Nnnnnn, Dddddddddd or Mmmmmmmmm ever made such statements.
The yogi philosophy and tradition were complied with as faithfully as possible but neither Gregorian Bivolaru or the teachers ever claimed to be persons in possession of the divine truth who have to be listened to. This aspect is highlighted by two clear motivations, namely:
a) All the people attending the yoga course organized by MISA were always advised to be as independent as possible, to think for themselves and take their own decisions. People could even hear Gregorian Bivolaru tell many times those who asked his advice to seek and find the bets answer by themselves or pray God and never do anything that contradicted their free will.
b) In the present, there have been and still are various opinions regarding a lot of aspects among the yoga teachers or even between some of them and Mr. Gregorian Bivolaru, and they are always open to a positive dialogue.
Such aspects fully contradict the insinuations of the people investigating me who tried to suggest that MISA is some kind of a dictatorship, even of an ideological nature. This is not real, as there are people who do not follow the teachers’ or Gregorian Bivolaru’s advice. It is all the less possible to apply such allegations with regard to committing certain palpable, illegal deeds.
As for the residences of the persons accused of human trafficking, some of the locations are used as spiritual establishments. I am familiar with the example of the ones purchased by Ms. Ccccccccccccc who was helped by her parents and by her relatives.
Other teachers also received some financial help form other people close to them, in order to purchase some establishments and subsequent to their purchasing and restoration, the yogis who wished to live there, could do this for free. It is therefore not accurate that the owners of the residences used as spiritual establishments got rich through the yogis’ unpaid work. Among the people charged with this, there are some whose activities had no connection with M.I.S.A. or with Mr. Gregorian Bivolaru. An example in this direction is Mr. Nnnnnnnnnnn who owned a house on the 133rd Sergent Turturică Street, where there was never any spiritual establishment, and where he conducted his own business.
Although I was asked to state there were certain radio receivers and transmitters that allegedly represented a danger to the national security on the 22nd Peleaga Street and some other such devices in Mr. Bbbbbbbbbb room, on the 123rd Turturică Street, I mention that the radio receiver and transmitter in question that I know of, could not tune in the frequency used by the Romanian Government, and the devices in question were kids’ toys.
I know Ms. Vvvvvvvvvvvvv as a person who used to help the people from the spiritual establishments solve various administrative issues, an activity which she conducted in good faith.
About Mr. Dddddddddddd I know that he is a doctor, a very diligent and altruist person and I mention that it is not true that he allegedly offered Gregorian Bivolaru money for purchasing certain residences. The latter one was not a man of money, he had no bank accounts and the presents that...... (translator’s note: illegible in the original document).
As I know the situation I experienced when I made the statements, when after receiving the distorted information aimed at by the investigators, I was video recorded and photographed, I am certain there are also other persons in a situation similar to mine. I am certain there are other persons who through certain means, were forced to make false statements in order to determinate Mr. Gregorian Bivolaru or other yoga teachers, yet they do not have the courage yet to come forth and tell the truth.
I thank God that through this statement I can tell the truth and fix the mistakes I made through my previous statements and thus no one has to suffer any more, of the people unjustly accused by me.
Lupescu Simion
