“A mixture of Taoism and Beninese witchcraft”: the guru of “warriors of light” in court

kung fu traininguntil exhaustion“, sex therapy sessions to achieve the “eight orgasmic successive doors“, but also courses of “philosophy“Based on conspiracy theses… From this Monday and until October 10, Élysée Ade, a 53-year-old Franco-Beninese, appears in Paris for his role at the head of a sectarian movement whose followers called themselves “the warriors of light“. He is judged forabuse of weakness by psychological subjectionout of twenty-two people, between 2009 and 2015, as well as “of aggravated sexual assaulton one of her.

230,000 euros in capital

Every Friday evening and Sunday morning, Élysée Ade gave free kung-fu lessons at Parc de la Villette, in the 19th arrondissement in Paris. Through these training sessions then settled “the teacher-student relationship” and his “control over group members“. To this were added coursesof wisdom“, or some “awakening circles“, during which the defendant evoked the existence of a “world conspiracy” of the Illuminati, linked in particular to “air poisoning», «vaccine poisoning“. To create a new world, the mastermind opened a society “Invisible Light Enterprise“for which the followers financed the capital to the tune of 230,000 euros. But the company had no activity following its creation. While he had no degree in psychology, the latter also delivered sessions “individual introspection“, for the modest sum of 50 euros per appointment.

To bring “peace in the world“, Élysée Ade gave personal development courses based on sexual enjoyment. The women had to follow sessions during which he assaulted them with a vibrator. The objective of these sessions was to achievethe eight orgasmic gates“. Only by reaching this stage could womenachieve enlightenment“, explains one of the victims during a hearing with the investigators, before adding: “that is to say a form of ultimate deliverance of the spirit where one has a perception of the world. Élysée Ade introduced himself into all stages of the personal life of his followers, authorizing or prohibiting couples from having sexual relations, but also by imposing on women to lose weight drastically. One of the victims reports that he demanded that he reach the 42 kg mark to stay in the group, even though his doctor had warned him that it was a “pathological weight“.

“According to him, we were under his energetic protection.»

In total, the defendant is accused of having raged between January 1, 2009 and October 6, 2015 by taking advantage of women and men in distress to establish his psychological hold. “He was above people.“His Doctrine”is a mixture of Taoism and Beninese witchcraft“, described a former follower, before adding:”According to him, we were under his energetic protection. (…) Leaving it is as if you no longer put on your helmet or drive with your eyes closed. This is how the grip was done.» Contacted by our colleagues from Parisian civil party lawyer Me Rodolphe Bosselut sees all the “sectarian drift markers“: “depersonalization, cut off from those around you, permanent surveillance coupled with a reporting and denunciation system, demonization of everything outside the group, concentrated around a chimerical project with money capture“. The person concerned, he denies the facts of which he is accused. He faces up to seven years in prison and a fine of 100,000 euros.

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