Excerpts from the APADOR-CH report on Human Rights (1996)
C. Religious minorities
1. General
1996 was the first year after the revolution when the question of religious minorities has become an issue of concern for the situation of freedom of conscience in Romania. Contestations against the freedom of conscience of a group or another came to public attention also in previous years. But until 1996, the campaigns never had such a scale, and, especially, authorities never intervened against religious minorities. [..]
3. Movement for Spiritual Integration into the Absolute (MISA)
In the course of 1996, actions continued against an organization whose members practice Yoga, “Movement for Spiritual Integration into the Absolute” and against one of its leaders, Gregorian Bivolaru. This campaign put in a delicate situation all movements and doctrines with Asian lineage.
a) Media campaign and repression of MISA members
The media campaign against MISA and the Yoga instructor Gregorian Bivolaru was initiated in 1990 and peaked in 1995. In 1996 more libelous articles appeared in Romania libera, Jurnalul National, Ziua, Academia Catavencu etc. MISA filed court complaints against journalists, accusing them of slander. That in some cases the journalists were punished (Corneliu Reu from Tinerama and Cristian Negureanu from Romania Libera, received criminal fines in 1995) gave the impression that the hostility that was created around the group, in these conditions, is held under control by state institutions. This is the reason why APADOR-CH did not take steps regarding the MISA situation previously.
For the first time, in 1996, state authorities also intervened against MISA. On June 17, 1996, around 23.00, a group of several dozen police officers rushed into the gymnasium of the Polytechnic Institute of Bucharest, in which about 150 people were attending a MISA Yoga meeting. They demanded identity papers and began to interrogate participants in a threatening tone. 20 people who did not have identity cards with them were taken to the police. At one point, a police officer tried to forcibly take the camera of a yoga student who was filming the events inside the room. Two other students, Camelia Rosu and Carmen Efta wanted to interpose between the police and their colleague. At that moment two policemen began hitting them, causing them injuries, later documented by medical certificates. Camelia Rosu and Carmen Efta lodged a complaint with the Prosecutor General, but by the end of 1996 no the complaints had not been given any consideration.
b) Position of APADOR-CH
In August 1996 APADOR-CH made an investigation in Costinesti, in the camp of “Parisian’s Gulf” where MISA members gather during the summer. For two days, APADOR-CH representatives sought to discover whether the allegations being made about this association, regarding the public nuisance and actions against morality, are confirmed or not. MISA members meetings were held in civilized conditions. None of MISA members’ activity conflicts with the law, and it does not motivate the campaign against them.
In interviews with leaders of the Movement for Spiritual Integration into the Absolute they questioned, with data, the information that is circulated against MISA members in the press. They also confirmed statements that the two police molested students have filed with APADOR-CH.
In 1996, APADOR-CH began investigations into the reasons which made many newspapers publish articles against MISA, but to define a position on the phenomenon, required to stop this campaign that infringes upon freedom of conscience, the activity of the association will continue also in 1997.
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