Russian shaman who wants to rid the country of ‘demon’ Putin in an exorcism is arrested again after setting off from Siberia to Moscow
- Alexander Gabyshev was arrested just two days after starting a 5,000-mile trek
- His first attempt was similarly cut short when he was detained in September
- The shaman hopes to perform an ‘exorcism’ involving a bonfire near the Kremlin
A Siberian shaman who says he wants to rid Russia of ‘demon’ Vladimir Putin was arrested today after making a second attempt to trek across the country.
Alexander Gabyshev set out on his 5,000-mile trek on Sunday with two companions and four dogs, three months after his first journey was cut short when he was detained in September and flown back to Siberia.
His planned exorcism involves lighting a bonfire near the Kremlin wall on Red Square and feeding it horsehair and fermented mare’s milk.
However, his second trek was halted after just two days when police arrested him on a highway on Tuesday, said advocacy group Pravozashchita Otkrytki which tracks his case.
Stopped: Siberian shaman Alexander Gabyshev, pictured during his aborted first trek to Moscow earlier this year, has been arrested again after trying to resume his walk
En route: Alexander Gabyshev set out on his 5,000-mile trek on Sunday three months after his first journey was cut short (he is pictured posing with a women during his initial trek)
Gabyshev has been accused of making public calls to carry out extremist activities, a crime punishable by up to three years in prison.
Alexei Pryanishnikov, a co-ordinator for the rights group, said he expected authorities to formally charge Gabyshev after the arrest.
‘He was detained on the orders of an investigator,’ Pryanishnikov said.
Gabyshev began his first trek in March, dragging a cart with his belongings. He planned to reach Moscow by 2021 but was detained in September.
The self-styled shaman has been compared to Rasputin, the mystic who gained a mysterious influence over Tsar Nicholas II before the Russian Revolution.
He had walked about a third of the way when police seized him on the shores of Siberia’s Lake Baikal.
After his first detention he was sent to a psychiatric ward for an evaluation and experts found that he was ‘not of sound mind,’ the rights group has said.
Walking with a crowd: Gabyshev greets locals on the way to Moscow earlier this year, a journey which was stopped after six months
Gabyshev making his way down the road to Moscow. He was halted at Lake Baikal in Siberia, on the border between Buryatia and Irkutsk
Due for an exorcism: Russian president Vladimir Putin, pictured in Sochi earlier this month, was the target of the shaman’s planned ritual near the Kremlin
Gabyshev’s eccentric bid to walk from his home city of Yakutsk to Moscow, a distance of over 5,000 miles saw a group of followers join him on the way.
His simply expressed statements about Putin captured public attention, prompting opposition protests as well as reports on pro-Kremlin television.
He explained before his first detention: ‘God told me that Putin is not a human but a demon, which I must expel. This is why I am walking there, to expel the demon.
‘At first I will try with peaceful methods like gatherings of people and rallies. Should it not happen by peaceful ways, there will be others.’
Pryanishnikov said that for the authorities the shaman’s attempts to oust Putin was not a joke.
‘The regime and law enforcement agencies take the occult, shamanism and witchcraft seriously,’ he said.