MOSCOW, April 6 (RIA Novosti) - Moscow police arrested Thursday the head of a notorious sect who promised to resurrect children killed in the bloody terrorist attack on a Beslan school in September 2004.
Grigory Grabovoi, who was detained on the suspicion of fraud, claimed that he could heal many diseases and even resurrect people. He collected large sums of money from the parents of children killed in the horrific school siege.
Igor Pavlov, a Moscow prosecutor, said a criminal case had been opened against Grabovoi after deceived parents had demanded a probe into his activities.
"The number of members of [Grabovoi's] criminal gang... was large - from 10 to 15 people," the prosecutor said.
The Russian Orthodox Church criticized law enforcement bodies for failing to detain the sect leader earlier.
Priest Mikhail Dudko, a spokesman for the Moscow Patriarchy, said the moral damage caused to the deceived parents was much worse than material.
"Making a profit out of the grief of parents who lost their children is a terrible deed, which may be called blasphemy, because a mother's love for her children is sacred," he said.
In all, 331 people died in the Beslan atrocity, including 186 children.
