God Kuzya loves snakes, crocodiles and turtles
The police had to count for several hours the money found in the modest rented apartment of the blind, unemployed Andrei Popov. This young man in the dry investigation materials goes by the name Andrei Popov, and for a large number of people he is listed as “God Kuzya,” a “god” endowed with a unique gift. Investigators consider Popov the leader of a religious sect. A criminal case has been opened.
Pseudo-priests-sectarians enslave people for money
“God Kuzya” was not ready for the early visit of the operatives: he did not have time to hide the tens of millions that lay in even stacks in the closet. Neither he, nor his followers, nor his wives could explain the origin of such astronomical amounts. Not otherwise, a miracle. With the arrival of operatives, the most devoted adherents began to defend their “god”, citing his disability and poor health.
How many cases are already known when people fell under the influence of scammers who extorted every penny from them, including freedom and moral balance. In this case, there is also a crime on the face.
The activities of “God Kuzi” have long been under the radar of law enforcement agencies
The novices who fell under the influence of “Kuzi” sold apartments, cars, took out loans and carried everything to Popov, becoming his slaves.
It took the operatives several hours to count all the bills. 43 million rubles and 100,000 US dollars - this is the total of the calculated amounts, the origin of which Popov, an unemployed disabled person, could not explain, and refused to be involved in them. The only clear explanation was that he was not engaged in any subversive activities.
Adherents of the god Kuzi collected round sums per day
Investigators seized a computer and notebooks that may help in the investigation. The self-proclaimed “god” embezzled money that people donated to build churches and help Donbass.
Severe morals reigned in Kuzi's sex: any offense was severely punished. You couldn’t wear makeup or communicate with relatives. They cruelly mocked parishioners for saying the wrong word, for eating the wrong amount of food. The slightest violation of one of the points led to a beating, which was recorded on camera. They beat me half to death.
The searches helped find specific religious literature, as well as several aquariums with rare sea fish, snakes listed in the Red Book, turtles and a crocodile. The aquarium is not here for beauty: followers of the “god Kuzi” deify the inhabitants of aquariums, and also worshiped the dead parrot of their idol, after which Andrei Popov was named. The founder of the sect has come to the attention of law enforcement agencies more than once, and several criminal cases have already been initiated against him.
Searches will take place in 7 more offices of “God Kuzi”
The novices, or, more precisely, the slaves of the sect, were engaged in begging at religious fairs, for which they received an introduction to participate in small rural churches, where they appeared with an offer to “donate for the parish and for the restoration of the temple.” Having received such official permission and donated 5-10 thousand rubles, the “well-dressed women”, of course, did not appear there again. And the permit was used for begging. After the expiration of such permission, it was copied and the dates were falsified. All these materials are also material for investigation.
Working simultaneously at dozens of Orthodox charity fairs, novices brought up to 300,000 rubles per day to the Kuzi treasury.
The materials of the criminal case also included videos of beatings of offending novices, as well as footage of child pornography.
“God Kuzya” was detained by Moscow police WATCH VIDEO
Police carried out a large-scale special operation to suppress the activities of the sect yesterday in Moscow. Searches with the support of riot police took place at seven addresses - in ordinary apartments there were “offices” of a pseudo-Christian sect, led by 38-year-old Muscovite Andrei Popov, who calls himself “God Kuzya.”
“During the searches, about 43 million rubles and over 100 thousand US dollars were seized, as well as specific literature and exotic animals kept in improper conditions,” Andrei Galiakberov, a representative of the capital’s police, told RG.
The organizer, according to him, of a destructive sect and a number of his closest assistants were detained.
In addition, personal computers and notebooks containing “accounting records” in which the sectarians personally witnessed their illegal activities were seized. Namely, that under the guise of a priest, “God Kuzya” and his accomplices collected donations for the restoration of temples. Sometimes they received 300 thousand rubles a day. Popov had all this money at his disposal. Although he himself assures that the almost 50 million rubles found do not belong to him. But he cannot explain their origin and how they got to his home. The sectarians found discs containing videos of beatings of guilty sectarians. According to the police, not all sectarians parted with their money voluntarily. The detainees are suspected of forcibly extorting money and real estate from “parishioners” of the “God Kuzi” sect.
It is reported that Popov loved to bathe in money in the literal sense of the word: adherents of his “teachings” prepared baths filled with banknotes for him. In addition, one of the former members of the sect, Olga Frantseva, said that the “god Kuzi” had many wives who left their jobs, families, and gave him property. One of these unofficial wives even rushed to his defense when the security forces arrived at their place at 5 am. By the way, the door to the apartment in Third Nizhnelikhoborsky Proezd had to be sawed with a grinder, since the sectarians completely refused to open it.
Let us note that this is not the first time that the “God Kuzi” sect has come to the attention of the police. In May last year, rare animals were seized from an apartment occupied by adherents of the sect and transferred to the zoo. And in September 2013, a criminal case was opened under the article “Battery”. One of the sectarians suffered from the actions of the sect leaders.
During the searches, a large sum of money was also discovered. In addition, the police found a lot of photo and video materials belonging to the category of child pornography from the sectarians.
The Russian Orthodox Church yesterday thanked the police for detaining the founder of the sect, Andrei Popov. “Unfortunately, there are always those who use people’s sincere desire to help poor churches and remote monasteries in order to steal money,” said Vladimir Legoida, head of the Synodal Information Department of the Moscow Patriarchate.
According to him, the sect maliciously used Orthodox paraphernalia to mislead potential donors.
Alexander Dvorkin, professor at St. Tikhon’s Orthodox University:
The name “Sect of God Kuzi” was invented by journalists; Andrei Popov himself never called himself that. First he pretended to be a priest, then a bishop, and when he was exposed, he proclaimed himself God, because no one asks God for any documents. As in any totalitarian sect, first of all it is the realization of the personal complexes and power ambitions of its founder. Everyone is surprised how such an awkward and ugly person could attract so many followers. But look at the leaders of other sects and their teachings, they are no better and no less absurd. I really hope that this arrest will have a logical conclusion in the form of a sentence for fraud and creating an organization that causes harm to health and poses a threat to people’s lives. People who are experiencing a stressful state end up in sects - this is an axiom. No one is immune from this; any strong person has a moment of weakness when sectarian recruiters can lure him with attention and affection. If a natural disaster or a mass terrorist attack occurs somewhere, sectarian recruiters, like vultures, immediately flock to this place, because there are a large number of victims and their relatives.
On September 10, 2015, Moscow police detained a well-known sectarian “ Boga Kuzi" The leader of the sect of the same name is accused under Article 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation “Fraud.”
The destructive sect has been known for quite a long time. The most terrible rumors circulated about what was happening behind the walls of the premises in which the pseudo-Orthodox sect was located, many of which, even the most terrible ones, turned out to be true. However, it is not yet known whether “God Kuza” will be charged with cruelty, since all parishioners experienced humiliation, bullying and beatings voluntarily. To date, the sect leader has only been charged with fraud.
The police suspect that, pretending to be representatives of the Russian Orthodox Church, the sectarians extorted money from parishioners. People who were members of a totalitarian sect collected money at Orthodox fairs, church holidays and events. The money apparently went directly into the executive's pocket. As a result of the special operation, the police had to search seven Moscow apartments of the sect leader. Money was found in the apartments (43 million rubles and more than 100 thousand US dollars), specific literature, as well as exotic animals - four rare turtles, two boa constrictors and a crocodile.
The organizer of the sect is Andrei Popov, born in 1977. Initially, he posed as a priest of the Russian Orthodox Church, then as Bishop Roman, and then even proclaimed himself a real “god.” Currently, the odious sectarian and fraudster has been arrested and is awaiting a court decision on measures to suppress freedom.
Video. “God Kuzya” detained in Moscow 09/10/2015
“God Kuzya” photo
The case of the leader of the pseudo-Orthodox sect “God Kuzi” will begin to be considered on its merits on December 18. The defense insists that he did not commit theft, and the donations collected by his followers went not only to the restoration of churches, but even to humanitarian aid for the residents of Donbass
The head of the religious sect “God Kuzi” is Andrei Popov. Photo: AGN “Moscow”
On December 6, the Presnensky Court of Moscow held a preliminary hearing in the criminal case of 40-year-old resident of the town of Dolgoprudny near Moscow, Andrei Popov, better known as “God Kuzya,” and five of his followers. The court left the founder of the religious sect and three of his associates in a pre-trial detention center for the duration of the trial. Two more will be under recognizance not to leave the place.
By law, the hearing took place behind closed doors. As court press secretary Alexey Chernikov told Business FM, at the meeting the defense of Andrei Popov and three other arrested defendants asked to be released from custody.
Andrei Popov, Zhanna Frolushkina and Galina Markevich proposed to transfer them to house arrest, and Nadezhda Rozanova asked for any other preventive measure not related to imprisonment. However, the court found no grounds for this and extended their detention until May 28, the press secretary said.
For two more defendants - Maria Rozanova and Ekaterina Grekhova - the judge left the previously chosen preventive measure in the form of a written undertaking not to leave. The defense made a number of other motions. Thus, the lawyers asked to stop the criminal prosecution of their clients and to return their case to the prosecutor. “They also petitioned to summon a witness to the court hearing and to request information about the victims’ income, but the court rejected the requests,” Chernikov said. The court scheduled a hearing on the merits of the case for December 18. On this day, the prosecutor will announce the indictment in the case, and the defendants will express their attitude towards it.
Damage of 7 million
Andrei Popov, who calls himself the reincarnation of Jesus Christ, Moses, Archangel Gabriel, John the Baptist, St. Nicholas, Sergius of Radonezh and Helena Blavatsky, is charged with fraud on an especially large scale (Part 4 of Article 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation), as well as the creation of a non-profit organization, encroaching on the personality and rights of citizens (Part 1 of Article 239 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). Damage - 7.385 million rubles. Ten people are listed as victims of his actions. However, this is only a small part of the donations received by the followers of “God Kuzi” from gullible citizens. Most of them did not contact the police.
