Posted on 03/24/2007 9:14:16 PM PDT by at bay
Falun Gong Practitioners Arrested in Moscow ahead of Hu's Visit Peaceful appeal in front of Chinese embassy leads to arrests from Russian police-CCP pressure suspected Epoch Times Russia Staff Mar 25, 2007
Russian police arrested 8 Falun Gong practitioners who were holding a peaceful appeal in front of the Chinese embassy in Moscow on Saturday ahead of Hu Jintao's visit.
The first Falun Gong adherents to be arrested were 68-year-old Surova and Gerlitz. Later in the afternoon, Valiullov, along with 30-year-old Shetkina and 28-year-old Markin were arrested, and by 3:30 pm the number of Falun Gong practitioners arrested totaled 8.
Six of the practitioners were Russian nationals, and two others, 33-year-old Brug and 21-year-old Podsosonny, were Ukrainian. One of the Ukrainians was a cameraman for the New Tang Dynasty TV (NDTTV) who was filming the peaceful appeal.
Falun Gong is a form of mediation and exercise that became outlawed by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in 1999. Since then, the adherents of the peaceful practice have become targets of persecution by the Chinese regime, and the persecution has left thousands of Falun Gong practitioners in prisons, forced labor camps, and brainwashing centers.
The group were supporting a one-person protest near the consulate (one person was holding a banner and others stood to the side of him), an activity that doesn't require government approval and is considered a constitutional right. The purpose of the activity was to protest against the brutal persecution of Falun Gong by the Chinese communist regime and to raise awareness about the human rights violations in China. The group has been holding similar one-person protests by the embassy for many years.
After the arrests, only 3 of the practitioners were interrogated, and administrative violations were incriminated to them at the Ramenki Moscow detention center. The charges against them include "disobedience to police" and "absence of Moscow city registration". Others were released without any charges or proceedings 1 to 3 hours after the arrests.
According to officer Kulagin Alexander Vladimirovich, the reason for the arrest was the complaint from the Chinese Embassy, that practitioners were interfering with their work. The officer also referred to the Viennese Convention, according to which they were forced to arrest Russian nationals in case they were disturbing foreign diplomatic officials. At the Moscow City Administration, practitioners were informed of the numerous reports of "disturbance" coming from the Chinese Embassy.
A witness and participant of the protest Alla Khegai said, "There was nothing disturbing about our behavior. To use the Viennese convention as grounds for arrest was very poor reasoning. In fact, we could see about 10-15 plainclothes Chinese officials lurking around, and pointing out practitioners to the Russian police officers to arrest".
Khegai said that practitioners were spread around the area, some of them peacefully meditating, others, sitting on the benches in the adjacent area. There was no sound except for the loud and often offensive advances from the police, assigned to patrol the area, she said.
Whenever practitioners tried to get closer to the building to display a banner, police would force them to back up or try to herd them together to incriminate attempts of unauthorized group-activity, Khegai said.
Another witness, Tamara Kim commented, "Later in the afternoon there was a Chinese delegation expected to arrive, so the tension immediately grew more acute. We crossed over to the other side of the pond, and sat in meditation, but the police did not hesitate to walk all the way over there to arrest us and take us away in their vans".
Kim said after a couple of hours spent in the Ramenki police division, most Falun Gong practitioners left without having been interrogated or accused of anything, since the mission of removing them from the area had been accomplished.
The main activities for the Hu Jintao's visit will be held in Moscow on March 26, 2007.
Maybe Russians can get informed by Googling up. Or maybe the ex-Moscovite who owns Google has censored that country's version of Google like they are censoring Red China's version.
Harmless mostly elderly people unable to even breathe as they wish. Any rat poison left? A big rat lands in Moscow and is an ideal candidate for a rodenticide.
btt
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