In Argentina, two more women have been formally charged in the case of the Russian sect accused of sexual exploitation and reducing persons to servitude, bringing the total number of accused to 21. According to the Argentine News agency, the parties presented their arguments and it was confirmed in recent hours that the two women were formally accused. Although they were not detained, their passports were seized and they were prohibited from leaving the country. The Attorney General, Fernando Arrigo, in charge of the Decentralized Fiscal Headquarters in San Carlos de Bariloche, formalized the criminal investigation against two more women in the case of the Russian sect accused of sexual exploitation and reducing persons to servitude, making a total of 21 accused in the investigation, in which the leader, Konstantin Rudnev, remains detained. During a new hearing to formalize the case, which began last Thursday and ended this Tuesday, the prosecution argued before Judge of Guarantees Gustavo Zapata that the two women, identified by their initials as D.Z., were part of the organization that recruited, transferred, and hosted the victim for the purpose of sexual exploitation and reducing to servitude, through coercion and deception—the facade of a spiritual space and yoga practice—and they took advantage of her extreme situation of vulnerability. These measures had already been taken at the beginning of the investigation when computers, cell phones, and erotic clothing were seized from them. Prior to this hearing, the sect leader, who is imprisoned in Unit 6 of the Federal Penitentiary Service, located in the city of Rawson, Chubut, requested house arrest again and was granted it this time. Nevertheless, according to information provided to NA, the Federal Appeals Court of General Roca upheld the appeal filed by the prosecution, as there was no justification for such a benefit, and therefore Rudnev will remain in prison. The main accused is known worldwide as he is considered the founder of a sect known in Russia in the 1990s, for which he was sentenced to 11 years in prison for sexual abuse. Faced with this sentence, he fled from Montenegro, where an arrest warrant was issued for him in October 2024, at the time it was learned that he had entered Argentina.
