Italian Carabinieri arrest 59-year-old cult leader in Turin on enslavement charges

Operation Asmodeo and the arrest

Carabinieri officers from the Provincial Command of Turin executed a pre-trial prison detention order against a 59-year-old man in the lower Susa Valley at dawn on 1 October 2026. The Turin Public Prosecutor's Office coordinated the operation, codenamed Asmodeo, following an inquiry conducted by the investigative unit of the provincial command. Investigators charged the suspect with reduction to slavery, aggravated sexual violence, mistreatment of cohabitants, and aggravated fraud against the Italian state. Law enforcement authorities confirmed that several other individuals connected to the group are also under formal criminal investigation. The operation draws its name from the biblical Book of Tobit, referring to the demon Asmodeus who killed seven successive husbands of Sara before being neutralized by Tobias with advice from the angel Raphael.

Recruitment through wellness courses

The investigation documented how the 59-year-old suspect systematically used wellness and spiritual activities to recruit followers. The man organized regular courses in yoga, meditation, and personal self-defence to identify people in vulnerable emotional, social, or personal circumstances. Once he established a rapport of trust with the participants, he invited them to reside in a communal living facility managed entirely by him in the lower Susa Valley outside Turin. Within the residential community, the suspect allegedly subjected the residents to continuous physical violence, systematic psychological pressure, and repeated sexual abuse. Prosecutors established that the communal setup allowed the suspect to exercise sustained subjugation over the daily lives, freedom of movement, and personal assets of the residents.

Italian legal context on cult offenses

The charges filed against the suspect rely on severe provisions of the Italian Penal Code rather than dedicated cult legislation. Article 600 of the penal code penalizes reducing an individual to slavery or maintaining them in a continuous state of subjugation, carrying statutory prison sentences ranging from eight to 20 years. The mistreatment charge invokes Article 572, which Italian law applies to protect not only legal family members but also cohabitants in shared residential arrangements. Italy has lacked a specific criminal offense for psychological manipulation since 1981, when the Constitutional Court struck down the former crime of plagio as unconstitutional. To investigate sectarian groups and psychological coercion within existing penal statutes, the Italian State Police created a specialized anti-cult squad in 2006.

Parallels with cross-border yoga networks

The recruitment strategy using yoga and wellness instruction mirrors cases documented in other European jurisdictions. In 2023, law enforcement authorities in France arrested Gregorian Bivolaru, a Romanian guru who headed the Atman international network of yoga schools. French investigators accused Bivolaru of manipulating female followers into accepting non-consensual sexual relations, leading to an operation that freed 26 women from residential facilities. In the Susa Valley investigation, Carabinieri officers continue examining financial records to establish how the community obtained illicit state funds. The 59-year-old suspect remains in custody under the pre-trial detention warrant as the Turin Public Prosecutor's Office prepares further legal steps.