Controversial Russian 'Healer' To Be Released On Parole

Grigory Grabovoi

BEREZNIKI, Russia -- A controversial Russian "healer" who claimed he could raise people from the dead will be released from jail on parole, RFE/RL's Russian Service reports.

The decision was made today by a court in the west-central city of Berezniki, Perm Oblast, where Grigory Grabovoi is serving an eight-year jail term for fraud.

A Moscow court found Grabovoi, 46, guilty of 11 counts of fraudulently obtaining money and sentenced him to 11 years in prison in 2008. A court later reduced the sentence by three years.

Grabovoi, who was born in Kazakhstan, established a foundation that received large amounts of money from people whom he promised to cure of deadly diseases and even to resurrect their deceased relatives.

Grabovoi's case became well known in Russia after it was reported that some of the parents of children killed in September 2004 during the Beslan school siege were among his "clients."

But the nongovernmental organization Mothers of Beslan denied that any of its members had paid for Grabovoi’s services.