THE ORDER OF THE SOLAR TEMPLE
The Trial
The families of the victims in Grenoble were not about to let the situation fade away. Police identified several prominent members who were still alive and went into action.
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Michael Tabachnik, 58, an internationally renowned Swiss musician and conductor, was arrested as a leader in the Solar Temple, and was indicted for "participation in a criminal organization," which included murder. He came to trial in Grenoble during the spring of 2001.
French magistrate Luc Fontaine theorized that two deceased members of the cultpolice officer Jean-Pierre Lanchet and architect Andre Friedlihad been the shooters at the mass suicide near Grenoble, and were therefore guilty of killing unwilling victims. One of the children found in a plastic bag there had been only 18 months old. The crime reconstruction had the two suspects shooting the others, dowsing them with gasoline, and before killing themselves, setting the bodies on fire.
Tabachnik was believed to have been among the group of leaders who had facilitated the suicides, and in 1994 to have announced the conclusion of their mission just eleven days before the first deaths. That indicated knowledge about what was to happen. Allegedly he had written much of the group's literature, and had thus had conditioned people toward annihilation by creating a "dynamic toward murder." He was said to have been Di Mambro's expected successor. Prosecutors wanted a jail term of five-to-10 years.
He denied all the charges, claiming that he had severed connections with the sect in 1992. He said he'd known nothing about the plan for a mass suicide. "I have done absolutely nothing wrong," he stated to reporters.
(AP/Wide World)
At the trial, two former Solar Temple members testified about what they knew. They insisted that senior cultists had ordered the mass suicides and execution of traitors. One stated that that some senior members who were above even Jo Di Mambro had survived and would exact retribution against anyone who spoke out. She said she had overheard another member tell Di Mambro that if members did not willingly cooperate with the suicide plan, they would be forced to do so.
Information also came out that Di Mambro and Tabachnik had co-founded the order after traveling together to Egypt to visit the temples of the pharaohs. Together they had set up the Golden Way in 1978, whose members were taught that they would find peace in death and would merge with a cosmic energy force. That group, with Luc Jouret onboard, eventually became the Solar Temple.
However, with no concrete evidence against Tabachnik for any part he might have played in the Grenoble incident, the court acquitted him of involvement in the 16 deaths. The victims' families were disappointed.
The Order of the Solar Temple is now believed to be dormant, if not disbanded altogether. While some reports claim that members still practice the rituals, there seems to be little concern from authorities that any more ritual deathsforced or otherwisewill take place.
A documentary about Princess Grace of Monaco, which aired in Britain in 1997, alleged that she had been a member of this cult and that her death in 1982 was linked to Di Mambro, but those close to her have vehemently denied these reports.
In January 2002, Switzerland opened a center for public information about religious cults, to inform people about the potential dangers and to assist cult victims.