A court in Central Russia has turned down a request to end the compulsory psychiatric treatment of the man, whose doomsday sect that spent more than six months underground waiting for the apocalypse in 2007-2008.

In November 2007, 35 members of a religious sect, led by Pyotr Kuznetsov, went underground to wait for the end of the world, which they initially claimed would come in May 2008.

A court in central Russia ordered on Friday the leader of a doomsday sect that recently spent more than six months underground waiting for the apocalypse to undergo compulsory psychiatric treatment.

“The defendant [Pyotr Kuznetsov] will not be responsible for the crimes he committed when mentally ill. The court has ordered compulsory treatment for him in a psychiatric ward,” Judge Maria Smyslova said.

Although Russian cult leader Pyotr Kuznetsov has already been declared legally insane, the court will attempt to determine his mental state at the time his followers first went underground.

A local court in Russia’s Penza region is set to hear the case of the Doomsday cult leader, Pyotr Kuznetsov. He is accused of inciting religious hatred after he inspired 35 of his followers, including four children, to lock themselves in an underground bunker to wait for the Apocalypse last November.

No confinement is in store for Kuznetsov in the habitual sense of the word because he was declared insane, Shatsky said.

A court in Russia’s Penza Region is expected to decide in late June whether the leader of a doomsday sect that spent half a year underground should be kept in a mental asylum, prosecutors said on Tuesday.

The long-running saga made local officials aware of some of the problems facing residents and local authorities even repaired roads to allow easier access to the cave, locals said.

The nine were the last of a group of 35 men, women and children that had dug into a hillside near the Volga region town of Penza in November and threatened to blow themselves up with gas canisters if authorities tried to remove them. [video]

Sect members still staying in the cave have not signaled any date of their possible coming out.

Religious writings by doomsday cult leader Pyotr Kuzntsov have been declared illegal by a court in Russia’s Penza Region. The books were found to carry extremist ideas aimed at inciting hatred towards other religions and nationalities.

He had been hospitalized with head wounds on April 2. Although initial media reports claimed that he had been beaten by disillusioned sect members, authorities later said that his wounds were the result of a suicide attempt.

The leader of the Doomsday cult, Pyotr Kuznetsov has regained consciousness a little over a week after an alleged suicide attempt.

The leader of the Doomsday cult, Pyotr Kuznetsov, may face charges over his role in 35 cultists locking themselves underground for several months. Nine cultists remain underground and two are believed to have died. Those who’ve come out are being questioned ahead of possible charges.

A local government official says that police and emergency officials were remaining on duty outside the dugout where the remaining 11 sect members are still holed up.

The Doomsday cult members locked in an underground hideaway in Russia’s Penza region have vowed to stay silent and have stopped all negotiations with officials.