French conductor Michel Tabachnik, a leading member & writer in an esoteric religious sect, has again been acquitted of involvement in inciting murder-suicide among group members.

When 69 members of the science-fiction like religious group Solar Temple (the International Chivalric Order Solar Tradition) (OST) died in a muder-suicide pact in 1994 & 1995, the famed French conductor was implicated because as a leading member, authorities attributed some of the impetous for the gruesome ritual to his esoteric writings. A lower court had ruled to acquit him in 2001, & this week the court in the French city of Grenoble upheld that ruling. His attorney had argued both times that his writings were "esoteric ramblings" with no ulterior motive.

The members of OST took their own lives or were murdered in 1994 & 1995 in Switzerland, Canada, & France. They believed that they were escaping the horrors of this world for a better world. OST was founded in 1984 by Luc Jouret, who claimed he had been a member of the 14th century Knights Templar in a previous lifetime. He also claimed to be the Christ & that his daughter, Immanuel, was the "cosmic child." He claimed he would lead his followers to a better life on a planet orbiting the star Sirius. He taught that this life was an illusion. His religious beliefs mingled Christianity, New Ageism, high finance, & apocalypticism. Believing that a world-wide economic collapse was imminent, & that OST was being persecuted by various government agencies, Jouret's followers were primed to follow him in suicide as their mode of escape. Jouret committed suicide in 1994, along with many of his followers, some suicides & some murdered by other group members, in 1994 & 1995.

Somewhere between 30 & 500 members are still alive & active in the group, scattered around the world. Whether any or all may commit suicide or be murdered in the future is unknown.

For the full story: Conductor Cleared of Cult Deaths.