In her book “I was his slave”, Lydia Hadjara looks back on the twenty years spent within the Raelian sect, marked by sexual abuse and other forms of violence.
Indoctrinated at four years old, sexually abused from the age of thirteen, sex slave of the guru from the time she came of age. Lydia Hadjara’s life is traumatized by her time within the Raelians sect, whose members believe that the creators of Humanity come from space. In his book, I was his slave (City Editions), published Wednesday January 15, it testifies to the abuse suffered within the sectarian movement.
Lydia Hadjara joined the movement at four years old through her mother. And at nine years old, she was spotted by Raël, whose real name was Claude Vorilhon, considered a “prophet” by his followers. “He told me I looked like an Elohim [les extraterrestres vénérés par les membres de la secte] and that we would have to meet again”, she confided to 20 Minutes. And at thirteen, hell begins: a leader of the sect sexually assaults her, claiming to prepare her for Raël. The guru did not hide his sexual relations with minors and assured in 1988 that it is normal to sexually assault or rape children for their “sexual education”, recalls Le Figaro.
“Raël is Machiavellian”
And as planned by the guru, at 18 years old, Lydia signed a contract “which indicated that I only had the right to have sexual relations with the prophet, and the Elohim when they came to Earth, that I did not “I had no right to refuse him and that I could not tell others about my intimate moments with him.” She becomes a “luxury slave”, she describes. Cleaning, laundry, cooking… She must also dress as Raël wants, lose weight when he asks, and satisfy her sexual desires, whatever they may be, she remembers. Like when he sticks a fork in her vagina to check her “devotion”. She managed to escape in 2007: she was 24 years old.
These twenty years within the sect had a profound impact on her: eighteen years later, the forty-year-old suffers from a “chaotic” sentimental and sexual life. “I am still very psychologically unstable,” confides the woman who is now a mother of two children. “I want to show how Machiavellian Raël is.” Because even today, she sees “his unhealthy look” again: “My nightmares are so violent that I have to touch the floor and walls of my room to bring me back to reality.”
Through her testimony, Lydia Hadjara wants to “make victims of sectarian movements understand that they are not alone and that it is not their place to be ashamed. I would also like to explain to people who have a loved one in a sect that “We must not give up on him. If I can save even one person, it will be a win,” she assures the newspaper. She also plans to file a complaint against Raël, who is still at large. He left France in 2003 after being the victim of persecution, according to him, reports Le Figaro. He has lived in Japan today, unmolested.