Petrohan community analyzed as totalitarian sect

Theologian and sect expert Dr. Desislava Panayotova has provided an analysis of the tragic events surrounding Ivaylo Kalushev’s community in the Petrohan region. She describes the group as a religious community with totalitarian characteristics, utilizing a hybrid belief system that blends Tibetan Buddhism, Hinduism, and local ethnic traditions.

Panayotova explains that leadership in such groups does not always rely on overt physical violence, but can be exercised with ‘velvet gloves’ through psychological manipulation. By instilling the idea that the earthly world is degraded and sinful, leaders can sever a follower's connection to reality, making them dependent on the leader for spiritual liberation in another dimension. Methods such as sleep deprivation, food restriction, and prolonged meditation are often used to weaken critical thinking.

Furthermore, the expert noted a significant contradiction between the group’s preached spiritual detachment from the material world and their actual possessions, which reportedly included drones, off-road vehicles, modern technology, and weapons.