The 26-Year-Long Persecution of Falun Gong (November 28)

On the second anniversary of the show trial against tea farmer and Falun Gong practitioner Ding Yuande from Rizhao in China, the Society for Threatened Peoples (STP) reaffirms its solidarity with his family and all persecuted Falun Gong practitioners in China. “We demand the immediate and unconditional release of all detainees, an end to transnational repression and espionage, and an end to the 26-year-long state-sponsored campaign of oppression, which includes arbitrary judgments, torture, and systematic organ harvesting,” said Jasna Causevic, STP's advisor on genocide prevention and the responsibility to protect.

Mr. Ding was brought to trial on November 28, 2023, as part of a coordinated wave of convictions against 22 practitioners, which is representative of the nationwide persecution that has been ongoing since July 1999. An independent tribunal in London in 2019 found that state-ordered organ harvesting is taking place on a large scale and that Falun Gong practitioners are the main victims. International experts consider the persecution to be a “cold genocide” and a crime against humanity.

On December 15, 2023, Mr. Ding was sentenced to three years in prison and fined, even though the activities he was accused of—practicing Falun Gong, disseminating information, and supporting uncensored media—do not constitute violations of Chinese law. Since March 20, 2024, he has been detained without legal basis in Shandong Province Prison, a facility known for severe abuse. The detentions are linked to a persecution strategy that has intensified since 2022 and that has also led to mass arrests.

Mr. Ding's case led to a European Parliament resolution calling for his release and for sanctions against those responsible. His son, human rights activist Ding Lebin, describes the persecution as a serious attack on fundamental human rights. Numerous Falun Gong practitioners continue to seek to raise awareness, despite the great risks involved.

Causevic warned that the persecution of Falun Gong is a testing ground for methods of repression against other religious communities and human rights defenders. “The German federal government, as well as G7 and EU countries, must recognize the threat to Falun Gong practitioners and threatened communities in China, expand sanctions, combat transnational repression, and advocate for Mr. Ding's immediate release.” This is also required by Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which protects freedom of thought, conscience, and religion worldwide.

Falun Gong practitioners are subjected to more than 100 methods of torture, including beatings, forced medication, psychiatric abuse, sexual violence, sleep deprivation, and forced labor. UN special rapporteurs have called on China to investigate these violations.