Russia Detains Falun Gong Practitioner for 2 Months in Jail

Natalya Minenkova does Falun Gong meditation in Dendropark in Moscow on July 5, 2022. The Epoch Times

A Moscow court on May 4 ordered the two-month detention of a Russian Falun Gong practitioner on the basis of her beliefs, pending an investigation. It’s the first such action in Russia as the nation increasingly leans toward communist China.

Natalya Minenkova, 46, will be detained until June 27 under a controversial law against “carrying out the activities of an undesirable organization,” the Tushinsky District Court of Moscow ruled. The list of “undesirable organizations” includes independent media outlets, journalism groups, and U.S. think tanks.

In the brief synopsis of the case released by Russian police, Ms. Minenkova was accused of illegally organizing the activities of The Center for Spiritual and Physical Improvement Falun Dafa. The center is not one of the organizations listed by the Russian Ministry of Justice.

The Tushinsky District Court of Moscow in Russia on May 4, 2024.

The hearing came after police raided the homes of five practitioners of the meditation discipline, which has been facing brutal persecution in China since 1999. Ms. Minenkova was one of four people detained. One man was released. Police questioned Ms. Minenkova and two others but held Ms. Minenkova overnight until her court appearance on May 4.

“By ordering the detention of Ms. Minenkova, Russia joins communist China as the only other country where a judge has incarcerated a citizen simply for meditating and aspiring to live by Falun Gong’s teachings of truthfulness, compassion, and forbearance,” Levi Browde, executive director of the Falun Dafa Information Center, told The Epoch Times. “This shameful act further erodes freedoms in Russia and demonstrates Russia’s growing, and disconcerting, ties to China’s communist regime.”

In China, an estimated 70 million to 100 million people practiced Falun Gong and credited it with uplifting their mental and physical health. The Chinese regime saw such popularity as a threat and began a campaign to systematically eradicate the faith, fueling abuses such as slave labor and forced organ harvesting.

Meanwhile, Moscow is also moving closer to China, leaning on its military support in the Ukraine war. Russian leader Vladimir Putin said he will be in China this month, the countries’ latest show of friendship since they declared a “no-limit” partnership shortly before the invasion.

U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan, when asked about the court ruling on May 4, said that it “does not come as a surprise ... that Russia would engage in repressive behavior against all kinds of people, whether it is on issues related to freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of assembly, freedom of religion.”

Mr. Sullivan, who was speaking on a panel at the FT Weekend Festival, also pointed out the increased ties between Russia and China.

“Russia is increasingly relying on China for a lot of things, particularly as they have lost other avenues, economically, technologically and otherwise. So this is a relationship that we look at closely, carefully,” he said.

Rep. Tom Tiffany (R-Wis.) also voiced concerns about the trend.

“It’s no secret that one of the CCP’s primary exports is oppression, and that’s very concerning,” he told The Epoch Times.

‘False Portrayal’

The prosecutors began a criminal investigation targeting Ms. Minenkova on April 27, a week before the raid, court records obtained by The Epoch Times show. According to the records, the prosecutors accused her of committing a “serious crime against the foundation of the constitutional order and security of the state,” noting that she had organized Falun Gong-related meetings and distributed Falun Gong literature.

Falun Gong practitioners call for an end to the persecution of the spiritual group in China, during an event marking 24 years since the start of the persecution, on Capitol Hill, on July 20, 2023. Samira Bouaou/The Epoch Times

Mr. Browde argued that such activities hardly constitute a crime.

“The sum total of what Ms. Minenkova was doing was bring music to a park and guide others to do meditation exercises, while hosting readings of spiritual texts in her home, all as a volunteer, because she wanted to share the benefits she received from practicing Falun Dafa with others.” Mr. Browde said. “Falun Gong is neither a ‘sect’ nor is Ms. Minenkova a ‘leader,’ illustrating the completely false portrayal of this case by Russia’s government-controlled press.”

In questioning one of two other Falun Gong practitioners before Ms. Minenkova’s trial, an investigator asked about the size of the group in the country, the main books of Falun Gong, and whether they had attended Falun Gong events abroad.

People familiar with Ms. Minenkova described her as kind, always smiling, and ready to help others. She quit drinking and smoking after taking up the practice in 2010, after seeing her mother’s poor vision improve after practicing Falun Gong.

Following the police raid on May 3, a White House National Security Council spokesperson told NTD, a sister media outlet of The Epoch Times, “We are concerned about this, whether it happens in China or Russia or elsewhere in the world.”

The State Department in the latest human rights report said Russia has “misused antiterrorism and anti-extremism laws, as well as other measures” in going after a regional branch of Falun Gong and seven Falun Gong-associated nonprofits “without any credible evidence of violent actions or intentions,” effectively banning the groups’ activities and subjecting those who practice it to mistreatment.