Russian Authorities Bow to Chinese Communist Party and Abuse Falun Gong Practitioners' Human Rights

According to the Russian Falun Gong Information Centre, in the streets of Moscow Russian Security and Police forcibly stopped Falun Gong practitioners from protesting against the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) atrocities of organ harvesting from live Falun Gong practitioners. They also attempted to prevent the Russian Falun Gong Cultivation Experience Sharing Conference from going ahead.

On the 19th of October 2007, Falun Gong practitioners from all over Russia and from other countries in the world gathered in Moscow to participate in activities to expose the CCP persecution against Falun Gong and to attend the 2007 Russian Falun Gong Cultivation Experience Sharing Conference. On the 19th of October, practitioners gathered in the streets of Moscow to protest against the CCP’s atrocities of organ harvesting from live Falun Gong practitioners, demanding to stop the crimes against humanity.

Even though the peaceful gathering gained prior permission from local government, a few dozen police and plain clothes officers showed up at the event. They prevented the spectators from getting close to the banners and slogans by creating barriers among practitioners and spectators. They also took photos of and recorded the event.

When the event organisers showed the local government’s permission, they were told that the local government was preparing for a new decision to cancel the gathering. The peaceful protest lasted only one out of the originally planned three hours before the Security Bureau and Police demanded an immediate stop, producing a new decree to cancel the event.

On the same day, the contract with the conference venue was cancelled. The manager of the venue informed conference organisers that the Police and Security Bureau demanded refusal of the event venue or accommodation for Falun Gong practitioners. He also mentioned that the place was filled with at least forty plain clothed police. Falun Gong practitioners from all over the world who came to Moscow that day were left stranded due to the unreasonable acts of the Russian Security and Police.

Organisers had to find a new venue. But a few places cancelled within ten minutes of booking, owing invariably to interference by the Security and Police. Apparently, organisers’ telephones were monitored by the Russian authorities. With painstaking efforts, organisers finally secured a venue for the conference some one hundred miles away from Moscow.

The bus to transport practitioners was followed by the Police and was constantly stopped in its tracks for “routine” checkups by traffic wardens and plain clothed policemen. It took the bus six hours to cover one hundred miles. With no alternative, some practitioners stood in the cold streets of Moscow for a whole night waiting for the bus.

The conference started as planned on the 20th. A lot of policemen and plain cloths police gathered at the venue. During the conference, they even walked on to the stage demanding to check identification, especially of foreigners.

Checking identification is a familiar practice of human rights abuse by the Russian authorities. In this way they can supply the Chinese Embassy and Russian Customs with blacklists to facilitate the next round of persecution. It was during the conference that the Russian police illegally deported a practitioner from Ukraine.

The head of the Russian Falun Gong Association said, “The Security Bureau and the Police exceeded their jurisdiction. It was a violation of Falun Gong practitioners’ human rights. We are not interested in politics. We do not have any political ambitions. We want to meditate peacefully in parks. However, when our fellow practitioners in China are brutally persecuted, their organs are harvested while they are still alive for huge profits. We feel obligated to expose the crimes of the CCP and its overseas institutions, and to call upon kind people in the world to help stop the atrocities.”

Practitioners also said that in China the CCP is atrociously harvesting organs from live Falun Gong practitioners for profit. After this brutality came to light, kind people all over the world condemned the CCP’s crime against humanity. The Russian authorities, on the other hand, acted in a way which aided the evil.

The Russian Falun Gong Information Centre asks that the Russian authorities including its Security and Police to stop violating Falun Gong practitioners’ human rights or abusing the Russian Constitution in order to curry favour with the CCP. The actions of the Russian authorities greatly endanger the future of the Russian nation and society. We hope that the Russian authorities can resist pressure from the CCP and its Embassy and Consulates.