Russia: Dafa Practitioners Hold a Press Conference to Make Public a Lawsuit Against the Prime Criminal of the Persecution

On June the 25th 2004, the eve of UN International Day in Support of Victims of Torture, the Moscow Falun Dafa Association, together with representatives of the World Organisation to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong and Falun Dafa practitioners from St. Petersburg, Irkutsk and other areas, held a press conference at the Moscow Journalists Association to expose the brutal and illegal persecution of Falun Gong practitioners in China.

The main purpose of this press conference was to make public that Russian Falun Dafa practitioners are to file a lawsuit against Jiang Zemin in the Russian courts on charges of torture, genocide and crimes against humanity.

At the press conference, the Chairperson of the Moscow Falun Dafa Association explained the popularity of Falun Gong in Russia, exposed the facts of the persecution of Falun Gong in China and recounted the crimes committed by primary culprit Jiang Zemin and other accomplices to suppress Falun Gong practitioners. A representative from the St. Petersburg Falun Dafa Association revealed the illegal activities conducted by the Chinese Consulate in St.Petersburg and Irkutsk City and made public the lawsuit against a former Consul in St. Petersburg, Chen Yichu. The representative from the World Organisation to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong also provided a report on the Organisation’s mission and the achievements of their investigation work in various places around the world. A practitioner from Irkutsk City discussed facts pertaining to the kidnapping and persecution of Irkutsk Falun Dafa practitioners in China.

Many people attended the press conference: Journalists from local newspapers and television stations, representatives from the Russian Journalists Association, the Moscow Helsinki Group, human rights organisations, the Union of Moscow Universities and Falun Gong practitioners from various places. Photos of Falun Gong practitioners being cruelly tortured in China were displayed. The event was reported by a Moscow television station in a news programme on its national channel that evening.