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Voice of America: Falun Gong News Conference in Russia
By Baihua in Moscow
(Clearwisdom.net)
News conference of Falun Gong in Russia
On August 13, 2001, a news conference was held in Moscow on the Falun Gong
issue. Russian practitioners and representatives of two human rights
organizations in Russia made speeches at the conference, and practitioners also
distributed literature about Falun Dafa. One piece of literature illustrated
that some Russian medical experts concluded in their study that practicing Falun
Gong is beneficial to health. In addition, practitioners also played a video
that clarified the truth in Russian. This video had two focal points: first, the
self-immolators in Tiananmen Square were not Falun Gong practitioners; second,
the self-immolation video broadcast by China's official CCTV [China's central
television] was deliberately fabricated and staged by the security
departments in China.
A representative of Russian Falun Gong practitioners said that when Falun
Gong was just beginning to spread in Russia, the Russian practitioners were all
practicing together with the Chinese practitioners. Later on, many Chinese
practitioners in Russia were compelled to practice secretly. Presently, the
majority of practitioners in Russia are local Russians.
Practicing Falun Gong is popular in St. Petersburg
In Russia, St. Petersburg has the largest group of practitioners. A
representative of Falun Gong in St. Petersburg, Soul Tasiank [Phonetically
spelled] said that St. Petersburg has several thousand practitioners, and that
several hundred of these practitioners regularly join the group practices. Shac
Cukor [Phonetically spelled], a contact person in Moscow, said that Moscow
has just over 100 practitioners. Shac Cukor added that practitioners in Russia
are rather diverse and from different walks of life. The practitioners and
representatives of human rights organizations in Russia explained that Falun
Gong practitioners are not interested in politics and do not oppose the Chinese
government. But practitioners are opposed to China's brutal persecution
of Falun Gong. The Russian government treats the Falun Gong group with the same
policies as several thousands of other active organizations: neither supporting
nor opposing. Therefore, Falun Gong in Russia is practiced openly and freely and
available to the public.
However, practitioners in Russia were once questioned by the Federal Security
Department, and they would sometimes encounter pressure from the Russian police.
At the news conference, the human rights organizations in Russia and a Falun
Gong representative disclosed that the Chinese general consulate in St.
Petersburg and the Chinese Embassy in Moscow placed a great deal of pressure on
Falun Gong practitioners in Russia. On this issue, Nick Reese [Phonetically
spelled], a representative of Russian human rights organizations, stated that
the activities of Falun Gong in Russia have certainly not violated any Russian
laws, and those same laws are there to protect the practitioners in Russia.
Therefore, the Russian human rights organizations will continue to pay close
attention to the Falun Gong activities in Russia in the future. The rights and
benefits of Russian practitioners will be ensured.
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