A faith healer who promised he could bring victims of the Beslan school massacre back to life has had his prison term reduced. A court in Moscow ruled that Grigory Grabovoi, who claims to be Jesus Christ, would spend eight rather than eleven years behind
Grabovoi's defence lawyers appealed to the court to throw out the case and release their client, claiming Grabovoi hadn’t committed a crime. The court rejected the appeal, but substantially reduced the jail sentence. Grabovoi claimed he was able to cure cancer and AIDS and even resurrect the dead. He charged $US 2,000 for his services. After the tragedy in Beslan in 2004, when a group of terrorists captured a school, leaving 300 people dead, including 186 children, Grabovoi promised relatives that he could bring their loved ones back to life. Many paid for his service. “In telling the injured parties about resurrection, he put the biblical meaning into this word and had no specific act in mind,” his defence said at the appeal. Grabovoi created a sect. He “taught” the members how to heal, at a cost of 39,000 roubles each. The court found Grabovoi guilty on 11 counts of fraud. He remains in custody.