Conviction New religious movements Messianic / communal movement Krasnodar, Russia · 2026

Russia: 'School of Life' founder sentenced to 20 years for exploiting followers under exorcism and divinity claims

Request a correction or reply

Record class

Core record

Evidence status

Convicted

Authority role

founder of the 'Shkola Zhizni' (School of Life) sect, self-proclaimed god and exorcist

Organization

'Shkola Zhizni' (School of Life), Krasnodar

Archive classification

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

Followers — including children raised inside the group — under a man they were taught was divine, with 'exorcism' as the coercion's script.

Exorcism or deliverance
Guru or spiritual-teacher authority

Evidence structure

Proceedings

2026-06-25 · first-instance conviction — not yet in legal force

Prikubansky District Court, Krasnodar, Russia. Oleg Garmash, founder of Krasnodar's 'School of Life' sect, who proclaimed himself a god and exorcist and controlled roughly twenty-five followers since 2005, was convicted on 25 June 2026 of raping two minors (2011–2014) and sexually coercing women followers under 'demon-expulsion' framing. He received 20 years in a strict-regime colony, three years' restriction of liberty, and a twenty-year ban on work with children. The verdict is not yet in legal force.

Documented coercion mechanisms

'demon-expulsion' framing of sexual coercion
two decades of control over roughly twenty-five followers

Cited record

Sources

national newspaper court reporting verdict and sentencing report 93.ru (Krasnodar): court report of the verdict.: Regional outlet's detailed court report.
national newspaper court reporting verdict report AiF Kuban: 'Экзорцизм через постель…'.: Independent corroboration.

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://93.ru/text/criminal/2026/06/25/76498446/ Corpus classification: national-newspaper-court-reporting; evidentiary role: verdict-and-sentencing-report. SHA-256 566c8d94bab1e843c174c0e72f224350ae5aad59a5bef64e111d47c3f7e24875
Retrieval: 2026-07-20 · Preserved; Bound by Fear automated source-preservation ledger
Source and tier basis: https://kuban.aif.ru/incidents/criminal/ekzorcizm-cherez-postel-osnovatel-sekty-shkola-zhizni-osuzhden-na-20-let Corpus classification: national-newspaper-court-reporting; evidentiary role: verdict-report. SHA-256 1883b498796e546162abb5db58b71a27811ab56c5cb3cd4727abd309fd8c2ba9
Retrieval: 2026-07-20 · Preserved; Bound by Fear automated source-preservation ledger

Named in this record? Request a correction, report a changed disposition, or submit a response.

Related record

Related cases · New religious movements

Browse all 68 New religious movements records

← Explore all cases