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(From The Moscow Times)
Moscow's Tagansky District Court found cult leader Grigory Grabovoi guilty of 11 counts of fraud Monday and sentenced him to 11 years in prison, but not before the proceedings were delayed for two hours by a bomb threat, Interfax reported.
Grabovoi swindled followers and customers out of money and property "using methods of psychological pressure," the presiding judge said.
Grabovoi had pleaded not guilty to the charges, saying his business was connected to "political, nongovernmental, religious and scientific activities."
Prosecutors, who said he had bilked people out of money by promising to resurrect the dead, including children who died in the Beslan School No. 1 terrorist attack, had demanded a sentence of 12 years in prison.
Grabovoi had also sold information on how to treat terminal diseases and cure the incurable, prosecutors said.
Vyacheslav Makarov, Grabavoi's lawyer, called the verdict "unfair" and "illegal" and said they intended to appeal the court's decision.