Conviction New religious movements Messianic / communal movement Moscow, Russia · 2018

Andrei Popov ('God Kuzya'): convictions for religious-group abuse and fraud

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Disposition and response

Material that narrows or disputes the record

Appellate history

2018-11-26

The court left the conviction in place and recalculated time served.

Record class

Core record

Evidence status

Convicted

Authority role

self-proclaimed divine leader, founder of a pseudo-Orthodox religious group

Organization

God Kuzya religious group

Archive classification

This is the archive's application of its published inclusion test. The cited record appears below.

The cited record identifies claimed divine knowledge and power, strict hierarchy, punishment for disobedience and sin, and religious-rite and temple-fundraising pretexts as the material spiritual doctrine, practice, authority, or pretext connected to the documented harm. The relevant authority role is self-proclaimed divine leader and founder of a pseudo-Orthodox religious group.

Other spiritual authority or belief

Evidence structure

Proceedings

2018-07-16 · criminal judgment and sentence

Presnensky District Court of Moscow, Russia. Popov was convicted of creating a religious association whose activity involved violence or other harm to health and of two fraud counts. He received five years in a general-regime colony. Three co-defendants received separate fraud sentences.
2018-11-26 · criminal appeal

Moscow City Court, Russia. The court rejected the defense appeals and recalculated custody credit under amended rules, leading to Popov's release in February 2019.

Documented coercion mechanisms

claimed divine knowledge and power
strict hierarchy
punishment for disobedience and sin
religious-rite and temple-fundraising pretexts

Cited record

Sources

court reporting judgment report Russian Legal Information Agency, 'Court sentences God Kuzya to five years for creating a sect and fraud' (July 16, 2018).: Courtroom reporting records Popov's convictions, sentence, civil awards, the co-defendants' distinct fraud liability, the hierarchical religious structure, beatings and fundraising through purported rites and a promised temple.
court reporting appellate disposition Russian Legal Information Agency, 'God Kuzya will be released within three months' (Nov. 26, 2018).: The appellate report records rejection of the defense appeals and recalculation of custody credit under the new rules.

Source provenance

Source access and integrity log

This log records source retrieval and file integrity. It does not mean that an automated process independently confirmed every statement in the source.

Source and tier basis: https://rapsinews.ru/judicial_news/20180716/284913966.html Corpus classification: court-reporting; evidentiary role: judgment-report. SHA-256 1f400df992ddfb365a2040d7061c29e847f277a2887ae0badb3fb1a9bef6e831
Retrieval: 2026-07-20 · Preserved; Bound by Fear automated source-preservation ledger
Source and tier basis: https://rapsinews.ru/judicial_news/20181126/291693437.html Corpus classification: court-reporting; evidentiary role: appellate-disposition. SHA-256 31985d075c2e7eb6d500365b22c7e500936d9883d879d37a85f202f3608ee511
Retrieval: 2026-07-20 · Preserved; Bound by Fear automated source-preservation ledger

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