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Russia: Falun Gong Practitioners under Pressure of Persecution (Part 1)
(Clearwisdom.net) Falun Gong practitioners in Russia are mainly local
Russian people. By reading the Falun Gong books translated into Russian and
learning the five sets of Falun Gong exercises, they stepped onto the path of
Dafa cultivation one after another. Consequently, their physical and mental
health was greatly improved, with joy and tranquility beyond description added
to their lives. Yet this kind of joy and tranquility was destroyed by the
persecution happening in China. Many Russian people found that they who were in
favor of the Chinese ancient culture were overnight turned into "enemies of
the Chinese government." Many of the Falun Gong practitioners asked
themselves, "What on earth is Falun Dafa?" "It's a righteous
cultivation method," answered the voice in their mind. "Did I step
onto the wrong path?" "No!" the inner voice replied. "Then
what could I do for Falun Gong?" Through a several-year exploration,
Russian practitioners are walking their own path of cultivation. This article
describes the difficulties encountered by Russian practitioners and the
practitioners under arrest in June 2006. The Persecution Happening in China The large-scale persecution of Falun Gong was launched by the Chinese
Communist Party's (CCP) former leader Jiang Zemin on July 20, 1999. Driven by
his personal jealousy and paranoia, he used any possible methods to obtain and
maintain his political power. On June 7, 1999, Jiang made statements at the Central Politburo Meeting
concerning taking urgent measures to "handle and solve the Falun
Gong problem." In his speech, Jiang described the introduction and
widespread popularity of Falun Gong as "a political struggle between
opposing forces at home and overseas and our party for the scramble for the
masses and positions." Jiang barked, threatened, and wrote letters to forge
deceitful lies as a means to force other members of the Central Politburo to
approve of his personal decision to "crack down on Falun Gong." In
October 1999, Jiang Zemin openly defamed Falun Gong as a [slanderous words
omitted] when interviewed by the media during his visit to France. Jiang
created the falsity of "acknowledged facts" in his attempt to deceive
the international media and to silence the opposing voices inside the Chinese
government. In July 1999, Jiang Zemin ordered China's Public Security Ministry to
announce a "Six Forbidden Activities" notice (to forbid Falun Gong
practitioners from practicing exercises and appealing for Falun Gong in
Beijing). But China's Public Security Ministry is not a law-making organization.
Therefore, the "Six Forbidden Activities" notice is legally invalid.
In October, the "Anti-[slanderous term omitted] Law" announced
by the Congress of People's Deputies is also unable to label Falun Gong as a [slanderous
term omitted]. Because when making a law, the lawmakers can only define
certain behavior as a crime, but cannot state that one person committed a crime.
Whether that person committed a crime should be judged by the judicial judgment;
it is the court that judges if he/she violates a law. As a result, the statement
that "Falun Gong is a [slanderous term omitted]" is made by
Jiang Zemin and the People's Daily, both of which have no authority to
make a law. Then judicial judgment could not be based on their statement. Nevertheless, Jiang Zemin had never offered any basis and reasoning to
support his own conclusion. Nor had he taken into consideration the fact that
Falun Gong is peaceful, rational, and has greatly improved the mental and
physical well-being of over 100 million people. Arbitrarily, he ordered all
Communist Party members, members of the Communist Youth League, present
government officials and retired officials, heads of party units and
governmental agencies to stop practicing Falun Gong and to "ideologically
draw a clear line between themselves and Falun Gong." In 1999, Jiang Zemin's daily main job was to plan the persecution of Falun
Gong. In order to try to make foreign governments acknowledge and help with the
persecution of Faun Gong, Jiang Zemin even personally handed pamphlets to
leaders of governments present at the Global Summit so as to spread his
deceitful lies to demonize Falun Gong. However, the international community did
not show respect for him. On the evening of November 18, 1999, the U.S. House of
the Representatives passed the H. Con. Res. 218 demanding the Chinese government
to stop persecuting Falun Gong. On the afternoon of the following day, the
Senate also passed the S. Res. 217 with similar content. Meanwhile, the Chinese Falun Gong practitioners who were labeled as
"enemies" overnight, along with Falun Gong practitioners worldwide,
united their individual efforts to oppose the persecution and gradually formed a
stream of civil power that could never be ignored and destroyed. The voices from
the international community calling for justice and the unyielding determination
of practitioners in China and overseas let Jiang Zemin clearly be aware that it
was never possible to keep his pledge to "destroy Falun Gong in three
months." Jiang Zemin Sought International Support for the Persecution Under such circumstances, Jiang Zemin turned to countries for support which
were infamous for their poor human rights conditions or could be bribed with
economic interests. Russia, bordering China, is one of them. On July 6, 2001, Jiang Zemin secretly held talks with Russian President
Yeltsin. Jiang secretly "represented" China to sign the Treaty of
Good-Neighborliness and Friendly Cooperation Between the People's Republic of
China and the Russian Federation. The treaty was said to be valid as of February
28, 2002. Article 8 of the treaty states: "The contracting parties shall not enter into any alliance or be a
party to any bloc nor shall they embark on any such action, including the
conclusions of such treaty with a third country which compromises the
sovereignty, security and territorial integrity of the other contracting
party. Neither side of the contracting parties shall allow its territory to be
used by a third country to jeopardize the national sovereignty, security and
territorial integrity of the other contracting party. Neither side of the contracting parties shall allow the setting up of
organizations or gangs on its own soil which shall impair the sovereignty,
security and territorial integrity of the other contracting party and their
activities should be prohibited." Since then, Jiang Zemin has used China's governmental system to bribe Russia
with economic interests. Particularly, China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs,
embassies and consulates often used Article 8 to force the Russian government
and its Ministry of Foreign Affairs to suppress Falun Gong. On one hand, the
Chinese Communist Party's secret agents spread flyers on various occasions to
defame and slander Falun Gong. On the other hand, the CCP embassies and
consulates kept using diplomatic measures to influence the Russian Ministry of
Foreign Affairs. Sometimes they even directly faxed or called the units
concerned. The excuse they made up is: Falun Gong has been labeled as [slanderous
words omitted] and a [slanderous word omitted] organization, and the
Russian government should stop the activities held by Falun Gong in Russia based
on Article 8 of the treaty. Due to their own interests and political factors, the Russian Ministry of
Foreign Affairs and Security Department apparently yielded to the CCP pressure.
In this way, Russia hoped to maintain its relationship with China as its
"strategic partner" and "trading partner." The Russian media
rarely reported the facts of Falun Gong; statements made by some Russian leaders
tilted the balance toward China. Russia's attitude toward China can be reflected
by its cooperation with China to lay oil pipes. What the Russian Government Agencies Have Done to Comply with the
Persecution since 2005 The Falun Dafa Assistance Center in Irkutsk, Russia is a center nearest
China. The staff working for the Russian government agencies interfered with
activities held by local Dafa practitioners to tell people the facts, and even
monitored or threatened them. Dafa practitioners in St. Petersburg filed a lawsuit against Chen Yichu, the
chief diplomat of the Chinese Embassy in St. Petersburg. But the St. Petersburg
court refused to accept the lawsuit due to Chen's claim to diplomatic immunity.
The St. Petersburg local government has denied Dafa practitioners permission to
stage a peaceful demonstration in front of the Chinese consulate. Recently, Dafa practitioners in Moscow have asked several local governments
for permission to stage a peaceful demonstration in front of the Chinese
Embassy. But the request has been rejected by four local governments. In the
past, the request had been rejected sometimes, but the local governments used to
deal with our request in a friendly and kind way. But recent situations appeared
different. The letters of refusal from the local governments to Dafa
practitioners cited Article 8 of the treaty signed by Jiang Zemin and Yeltsin as
their reason to deny practitioners permission. In addition, the Russian immigration office recently has openly announced the
denial of immigrant visas to several Dafa practitioners. The immigration office
told the court that the Security Department has a so-called "secret
document" related to the treaty signed by the PRC and Russia. Russian Dafa practitioners felt that the Russian government agents used the
Treaty of Good-Neighborliness and Friendly Cooperation Between PRC and Russia as
an excuse to limit Falun Gong activities. Russian practitioners, particularly
practitioners of Chinese nationality, faced troubles and pressure. What the
Russian government agents have done is against the Russian Constitution, human
rights, morality and conscience, and sometimes infringes on the privacy of
Russian and alien citizens. The treaty signed by the PRC and Russia (particularly its Article 8) has
violated Russian law and tarnished Russia's image as an independent country of
sovereignty and democracy. The above-mentioned Article 8 implies that behaviors
of the Russian government have curtailed Russian democracy and civil freedoms,
and deceived many Russian citizens. What the CCP Secret Agents Have Done to Target Russian Falun Gong
Practitioners First, in the past few years, the CCP has sent numerous secret agents to
Russia in the name of trading business and further studies Since 2003, the number of undergraduate and graduate students sent by the CCP
to Russia has dramatically increased. As far as we know, Moscow University and
People's Friendship University have the most foreign students from China. The
CCP has arranged a "director" in each department to specifically
monitor the overseas students from China. When Dafa practitioners visited the
two universities to distribute Dafa truth-clarification materials,
there were often students reporting the event to their "director." The
secret agents also had some students spy on their own classmates. Staff of the
Chinese Embassy also invited Dafa practitioners (who are overseas students) to a
meal to form some kind of relationship. Second, based on reliable sources of information, the CCP also sent secret
agents into the delegations to gather intelligence; further, the secret agents
disguised themselves as businessmen to mingle themselves with overseas Chinese
in Russia. Some of the secret agents are from the CCP military intelligence. According to some veteran overseas Chinese practitioners, during the 2003
Chinese New Year holidays, the CCP invited some overseas Chinese back to China
to attend a "meeting." After their returning back to Russia, they
organized some "Anti- [slanderous term omitted] Association"
and "Association to Support Cross-strait Reunification." Heads of
these associations directly gathered the so-called "Falun Gong
intelligence" and committed wrongdoing to interfere with Russian Falun Gong
practitioners. The head of the "Anti-[slanderous term omitted]
Association" had even openly caused interference in a peaceful
demonstration organized by Dafa practitioners and threatened practitioners of
Chinese nationality. Furthermore, the Falun Dafa Minghui/Clearwisdom website received a list in
2006, revealing that China's Public Security Ministry again secretly organized a
group of persons. These chosen persons would receive short-term intensive
language training, and then would be sent overseas. These persons were picked up
from the public security system in each province. Their activities were a
guarded secret, and they revealed no word of their actions to their family. The
language training includes an English class and Russian class. Members who
attended the current Russian class are as follows, with their present work units
and titles listed. 1. Lin Xueyong--Deputy Commander in Chief of the Border Control Bureau of
Heilongjiang Province 2. Zhang Guicai--Chief of Hulin Frontier Inspection Station of the Border
Control Bureau, Heilongjiang Province 3. Hao Yingnan--Staff of Public Security Bureau of Harbin City, Heilongjiang
Province 4. Li Ming--Section Chief of Division of Exit & Entry Administration
Department of Public Security Bureau, Heilongjiang Province 5. Zheng Zhongyuan--Staff of Exit & Entry Administration Department of
Jiamusi Public Security Bureau, Heilongjiang Province 6. Yuan Jinbao--Staff Officer of Frontier Inspection Station Command of the
Manzhouli Border Control Bureau, Inner Mongolia 7. Wang Dayong--Deputy Section Chief of Qingdao Frontier Inspection Station
of the Border Control Bureau, Shandong Province 8. Feng Xiguang--Secretary of Discipline Committee of Public Security of
Xinjiang Area 9. Li Xingang--Chief of National Protection Section of Public Security
Department of Xinjiang Autonomous Region 10. Cai Zhixiong--Deputy Section Chief of Secretary Section of Exit &
Entry Administration Department of Nanjing Public Security Bureau, Jiangsu
Province 11. Jiao Wei--Deputy Commander of National Protection Section of Beijing's
Xicheng Police Department 12. Guo Feng--Staff of Exit & Entry Administration Department of
Beijing's Haidian Police Department 13. Wang Xinnian--4th team of Criminal Investigation Crew of
Heping Police Department in Tianjin City 14. Hu Juntang-- Chief of Nanguan Substation of Changchun City Police
Department, Jilin Province 15. Sun Guoen--Staff of Public Security Bureau of Jilin City, Julin Province 16. Liu Baoyou--Chief of Criminal Investigation Team of Nanguan Substation of
Changchun City Police Department, Jinlin Province Third, over the past few years, the Chinese Embassy officials in charge of
the persecution have kept monitoring and harassing Chinese practitioners who
live in Russia. For example, since July 20, 1999 (when the persecution began), the Chinese
Embassy officials have kept calling an elderly Chinese couple, asking them to
give up practicing Falun Gong. The couple in turn told the officials that Falun
Gong is good and that it cured them of numerous diseases, and that they enjoy
physical and mental health and are aboveboard persons. Realizing that their firm
belief in Falun Gong could not be altered, the Chinese officials started
monitoring and wiretapping the couple. In addition, the CCP state security secret agents conducted a so-called
"investigation" into the old couple's relatives, classmates,
colleagues and their former work units. The secret agents still offered the
Russian police station disinformation that they were "heads of a certain
terrorist organization," spreading slanderous rumors against them. The
secret agents even threatened to deport the elderly couple back to China, who
have resided in Russia for a long time and maintain their Chinese passports. Russia's Ministry of Internal Affairs and Security Department have kept
monitoring and harassing practitioners of Chinese nationality. Based on this as
well as the information from the Chinese consulate and embassy, it can be
determined that the CCP offered Russia a "blacklist," on which are the
names of Chinese practitioners in Russia and practitioners of foreign
nationality. In 2004, the Russian customs denied a Swedish practitioner named
Sven entry into Russia, while the CCP forbade Russian practitioner Nachia from
entering China with her husband and children. The Russian police station had
postponed several times practitioners' application for residence permits, and
postponed or refused to grant practitioners political asylum. These are all
examples of interference with Russian practitioners. Fourth, the secret agents working for the CCP consulate and embassy bought
some Russian and Chinese people to spy on the activities of Dafa practitioners
in every possible way One person who claimed himself as a reporter of certain newspaper in Hong
Kong often came to attend all kinds of exhibitions, news conferences held by
practitioners, even when not invited. He was particularly interested in these
activities. Even on the certain sensitive dates called by the CCP,
he would call practitioners to ask for information of activities and sometimes
even invited an individual practitioner to a meal in a restaurant. Sometimes Chinese embassy staff are found taking photos at the Falun Gong
practice site in Moscow. Russian or Chinese people are hired to watch
practitioners, particularly practitioners of Chinese nationality. During the summer vacation of 2004, a Dafa practitioner accompanied her
daughter to return to Dalian, China. On the second day of her arrival, she was
called by the state security secret agents to have a talk. The secret agents
tried to both threaten and entice her to reveal information of Dafa activities
in Russia, and even directly named certain senior practitioners in Russia and
inquired about them. The secret agents said, "We are well informed of your
situations in Russia." They even knew when and where Chinese practitioners
in Russia gathered to practice exercises and study the Fa, and when
the practitioners gathered at her home to make banners and display boards. Every
week the Chinese practitioners in Russia would gather at a practitioner's home
to study the Fa. The practitioners found that secret agents hid themselves in
cars to monitor them. (To be continued) Posting date: 7/20/2006 |