Russia:Practitioners Successfully hold Press Conference in St. Petersburg and Meet with A Member of the Duma (Parliament)

On 4 PM of June 10, 2002, in the park across from Astoria Hotel in St. Petersburg, Russia, Falun Gong practitioners held a press conference. These Falun Gong practitioners came from Europe, Australia, Canada, and the United States. Some media and one TV station conducted long interviews with one Russian practitioner and Connie Chipkar from Canada.

Surprisingly, a member of the Russian Duma (Parliament), Mr. Rebakow, and one of his colleagues joined the conference. Mr. Rebakow is a defender of human rights who is very concerned about Falun Gong practitioners and the situation of Falun Gong practitioners in Russia. After the press conference, Mr. Rebakow and Falun Gong practitioners met at the Duma and had a talk. More than one hundred Falun Gong practitioners gathered in St. Petersburg. All activities were previously approved including an SOS Walk and peaceful activities in six locations. However, these activities were suddenly disallowed because of Jiang's arrival. It is believed that Jiang pressured the Russian Government. Mr. Rebakow was very worried about the situation of Falun Gong in Russia. He expressed his willingness to do everything possible to change the situation.

More than twenty practitioners went to the Duma, holding a "Truthfulness-Compassion-Tolerance" banner. People were very interested in our banner and appreciated the flyers in Russian that we passed out to them.

Source: http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2002/6/20/23306.html