Ahead of CCP Leader’s Visit, Serbia Rounds Up, Detains Falun Gong Practitioners

Falun Gong practitioner Dejan Markovic in an interview with NTD from his home in Belgrade, Serbia, in July 2021. Screenshot/NTD

Serbian authorities arrested several Falun Gong practitioners ahead of a visit by Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leader Xi Jinping, only to release them after Xi left the country.

The move by Serbian authorities occurred just days after Russian authorities raided five homes and arrested four Falun Gong practitioners ahead of a planned meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Xi.

The CCP has sought to export its persecution of Falun Gong—a spiritual discipline that consists of meditative exercises and moral principles—beyond its borders since 1999.

Serbian authorities arrested six practitioners and two of their relatives on May 7, holding them for about 24 hours in several locations, according to Dejan Markovic, one of the detainees. Those arrested included his brother and an 80-year-old woman.

An arrest warrant issued for Mr. Markovic stated that he was suspected of posing a “serious threat to persons under international protection.”

After Xi left the country, Mr. Markovic and the other detainees were handed a document stating that the threat no longer exists, according to files shared with The Epoch Times.

That statement was the “biggest nonsense” in the whole affair, Mr. Markovic told The Epoch Times. He said that one Falun Gong practitioner was detained in a cell with a vegan activist whose advocacy group had campaigned a decade ago against dog meat being eaten in China.

“Following this logic, anyone who ever said anything against China could be detained for security reasons,” he said, noting that he’s convinced that the targeted arrests were a result of orders from the CCP.

Serbian authorities haven’t publicly commented on the arrests, and those detained haven’t been charged with any crime. Serbia’s Ministry of Internal Affairs didn’t respond by press time to an inquiry by The Epoch Times.

Closer Ties

Serbia, a member of China’s Belt and Road Initiative, relies heavily on billions of dollars in investments from China, drawing increased concerns from the European Union, which Serbia has long sought to join.

“We caution all of our partners and all of our interlocutors to be very aware of China’s agenda in Europe and China’s agenda with regard to the European community,” Gabriel Escobar, U.S. envoy for the Western Balkans, said at a press conference about Xi’s recent visit.

Serbian authorities held a substantial welcome ceremony for Xi, busing thousands of people from across the country to the Serbia Palace to chant “China, Serbia” and wave flags in front of the building. A Chinese communist flag several floors high was featured on a skyscraper near the airport, with smaller flags visible along the main highway and downtown.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic (R) stands next to Chinese Communist Party leader Xi Jinping during a welcome ceremony in Belgrade, on May 8, 2024. ELVIS BARUKCIC/AFP via Getty Images

During the meeting, the two leaders reaffirmed a free trade agreement set to take effect in July. Serbia’s populist president, Aleksandar Vucic, addressing the crowd from the balcony, called Xi an “ironclad” friend and praised his visit as “historic” for its potential to bring the countries closer.

“It is deplorable to see a country that was once proud of its own history and record of moving away from the communist system now embrace the CCP,” Erping Zhang, spokesperson for the Falun Dafa Information Center, told The Epoch Times.

“This cowardly act was clearly instigated by the CCP, which has been exporting its domestic repression overseas.”

CCP Pressure

In 1999, then-CCP leader Jiang Zemin launched a persecution campaign to eradicate Falun Gong. At that time, it was estimated that 70 million to 100 million people had taken up the meditation practice. To this day, the regime targets it as a priority for elimination and subjects practitioners to abuses including torture, slave labor, and forced organ harvesting.

Beijing has consistently exerted diplomatic pressure and used coercive measures to downplay its human rights abuses when its officials travel overseas.

During Xi’s 2015 trip to Washington, the Chinese Consulate in New York funded hundreds of protesters to counter Falun Gong demonstrations. A similar scene played out during the U.S.–China summit in San Francisco in November 2023, with suspected Chinese agents attacking protesters who were highlighting the regime’s abuses at home.

Falun Gong practitioner Dejan Markovic meditates in Belgrade, Serbia, on May 9, 2024. Courtesy of Dejan Markovic

The latest action in Serbia wasn’t the first time that Falun Gong practitioners have been arrested in the country ahead of a visit by a high-level CCP official. In 2014, Serbian police arrested 11 Falun Gong practitioners who planned to hold peaceful demonstrations to raise awareness of the state-led forced organ harvesting in China ahead of a visit by then-Chinese Premier Li Keqiang for a leaders’ meeting including officials from China and Central and Eastern European countries.

The latest arrests were reminiscent of a time when Serbia was still the socialist Yugoslavia and authorities targeted anyone they deemed suspicious under what’s known as “preventive detention,” Mr. Markovic said.

“This is for sure done in China today,” he said. “But in Serbia, which is an EU candidate, this shouldn’t happen. And it happens because of close relations between Serbia and China.”

Mr. Markovic noted that in 2019, when he and his daughter released a documentary called “The Blacklisted,” which highlights the harassment of Falun Gong practitioners in Serbia under communist China’s pressure, authorities blocked them from screening the film in several venues. Ultimately, the film was shown at a venue belonging to an Austrian company not subject to Serbian government control.

Daughter Li Xiaohua and mother Ju Reihjong attend a candlelight vigil to commemorate the victims of the 23-year-long persecution of Falun Gong in China, held at the Washington Monument on July 21, 2022. Ms. Ju holds a photo of her husband and Ms. Li's father, Li Delong, who died in the persecution. Samira Bouaou/The Epoch Times

​​On May 7, when the police turned up and summoned Mr. Markovic to the station, the officers made it clear they were only following orders, he said.

“They know that we are peaceful,” he said.

Mr. Markovic recounted the police chief of Belgrade as saying: “I know that you guys are good people. I will not question you. I don’t need to question you. But the district attorney asked us for 48 hours detention.”

Mr. Markovic said that the arrested practitioners plan to sue the government over their detention. Falun Gong practitioners in Serbia have previously brought two suits against the government, including one over the 2014 arrests, which they won in the country’s highest court.

“For this one, we will also sue them, and I’m sure we will win,” he said.