Wednesday April 26, 2006
Representatives of the Falun Gong spiritual movement called on the Russian
government to denounce what they claim is widespread torture and organ
trafficking practised against members of the [group] in China.
Sergei Skulkin, chairman of the movement's World Organization to Investigate
the Persecution of Falun Gong, told journalists that the Chinese authorities run
"concentration camps" where thousands of Falun Gong adherents have
allegedly been killed for their organs.
"When Russia is developing increasingly close ties to China we cannot
tolerate that our government doesn't take a clear position against torture of
Falun Gong members," said Ivan Shkodiyuk, head of the [group's] Russian
branch, which claims 5,000 members.
The Falun Gong says it helps people purify themselves through exercise,
meditation and Buddhist-based philosophy.
It claims 100 million members worldwide, including 70 million in China, where
the group is banned [...].
Lyudmila Alexeyeva, head of the Moscow Helsinki Group and a respected human
rights champion, said at the same press conference that totalitarian regimes
always suppressed spirituality and said the banning of Falun Gong "reminds
me of the USSR in the 1960s when they banned yoga."
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