Four former followers of the “University of Nature and Ecology of the Relationship”, three women and a man, accused its founder of sexual assault.
The 82-year-old former guru, already convicted in 2017, denounced during the trial a "culture of lies"
His sentence is identical to his previous conviction for similar facts pronounced in 2017. The former guru Gabriel Loison was sentenced Thursday evening to 15 years in prison by the criminal court of Loire-Atlantique for rape and abuse of weakness.
The sentence of the founder of the "University of nature and ecology of the relationship" "will be completely confused" with a previous conviction for the same facts pronounced in 2017 by the Assize Court of Appeal of Ille- et-Vilaine, decided the court.
Defense lawyers hailed a "good decision".
"It's like an acquittal in terms of the sentence," said Me Sven Rauline.
Placed in detention in 2011, the man should be released from prison "at the latest at the end of 2023", according to his advice.
Four former followers of the “University of Nature and Ecology of the Relationship”, three women and a man, accused its founder of sexual assault and rape, also evoking beatings and humiliations.
The 82-year-old former guru, white hair combed back and goatee, denounced during the trial a "culture of lies", explaining in a hoarse voice that he had only ever had consensual sex.
Asked during the hearing about oral sex he allegedly imposed on one of the victims, Gabriel Loison shrugged his shoulders.
"I didn't ejaculate, it was to teach him how to do it.
I took no pleasure in it,” he said.
"Sex Slave"
The ex-companion of Gabriel Loison, tried for complicity and acquitted during the first trial, was this time on the bench of the civil parties.
Julie Baschet, 48, explained that she had been "brainwashed" and was Gabriel Loison's "sex slave" for five years.
“The conviction of Gabriel Loison is the end of an ordeal, explained his lawyer, Me Célia Chauffray.
It is the recognition of his status as a victim.
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At the bar, arms crossed behind her back, she had told of Gabriel Loison's hands going under her dress and on her chest from her "initiation", then the "grip" of a man who made her "cut off the dialogue with the society ".
In a trembling voice, she described an extremely violent sodomy that would have "torn" her.
Statements "signed Judas", had swept the accused during his interrogation.
"Lison has plucked people"
Former guru of the "Gardens of life", listed as a sect by the parliamentary committee on sects in 1995, Gabriel Loison then founded the "University of the nature and ecology of the relationship", presented as a collective of research that trained “health masters” via various internships.
To his future followers, Gabriel Loison offered a first test session in Morocco.
“The initiation” continued with a three-week stay in Costa Rica or Spain billed at 10,000 euros.
Then came a 72-day course with tantrism and group sex.
Gabriel Loison was also convicted of complicity in gang rape on one of the complainants, who said he had suffered during a stay a "punitive sodomy" committed by followers with sex toys but orchestrated by Gabriel Loison.
The young man took out "five or six loans" in five years to finance lessons and stays.
“Lison plucked people, it was a pit,” he accused at the bar of the court.
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