A Novosibirsk court sentenced the founder of the Church of the Last Testament.

Sergei Torop (aka Vissarion) was convicted of psychological abuse against followers. His associates, Vladimir Vedernikov and Vadim Redkin, were sentenced to 12 and 11 years in prison, respectively.

Toropov recognized guilty of creating a religious association whose activities involve violence against citizens and fraud.

According to the prosecutor's office, from 1991 to 2020, the community's activities resulted in moral harm to 16 victims, six suffering serious bodily harm, and one suffering moderate bodily harm. Investigators believe that the community's followers suffered applied "manipulative group organized psychological violence."

Sergei Torop, a resident of the Krasnoyarsk Territory, founded the religious organization in 1991. He proclaimed himself Vissarion—Christ returned to Earth. Since 1995, the organization registered in the Ministry of Justice.

The followers, numbering over 5, called themselves the "Vissarion Community." They lived in the southern Krasnoyarsk region and practiced subsistence farming. The prosecution claims the main goals of the founders of the teaching were to control people and make a profit by attracting followers' money and their unpaid labor.

In 2020, the community's leaders were arrested, and in 2022, the organization was liquidated by court order. Torop pleaded not guilty.