Italy: 'santone' convicted of abusing followers through coerced 'energy exchange' rituals
Record class
Core record
Evidence status
Convicted
Authority role
self-styled healer and seer over a circle of clients and followers
Organization
No organization assigned
Spiritual nexus
The victims were clients and followers who accepted the defendant's claimed powers of foresight and healing; the rituals he prescribed were the mechanism of the abuse.
- Spiritual healing or treatment
- Prosperity, divination, or curse-removal claim
- Threatened spiritual consequence
Evidence structure
Proceedings
2018-12-07 · first-instance conviction and sentence
Tribunale di Torino (4th criminal section), Italy. Paolo Meraglia, a self-styled 'santone', was sentenced to 10 years and 11 months for sexually abusing women, including minors, under the pretext of esoteric healing sessions in which coerced group sex was framed as 'energy exchanges' necessary to neutralise dangers he claimed to foresee. Two co-defendants received 4 years 2 months and 2 years 9 months; three others were acquitted. Prosecutors had sought 23 years.
Documented coercion mechanisms
- group sexual acts framed as 'energy exchanges' needed to neutralise foreseen dangers
Primary record
Sources
- national news agency verdict and sentencing report 'Orge per curare: condannato santone', ANSA, 7 Dec. 2018.
Italy's national news agency reporting the conviction, sentence, and co-defendants.
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