Seven NGOs supporting the spiritual movement have been banned by the Russian government. They include the anti-organ-harvesting organization DAFOH.
by Massimo Introvigne
On July 17, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom published a document denouncing the anti-cult ideology in Russia. Bitter Winter noted how the document is important for China as well, as China and Russia co-operate and support each other in the repression of groups labeled as “extremist cults” in Russia and xie jiao in China.
On July 20, the U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo issued a statement on the 21st anniversary of the persecution of Falun Gong in China, calling on the CCP to immediately cease “its depraved abuse and mistreatment of Falun Gong practitioners.” The CCP reacted by calling Pompeo “the worst U.S. Secretary of State in history.”
On the same anniversary day, July 20, the Russian government designated seven foreign NGOs connected with Falun Gong as “undesirable in Russia, following inspections carried out by the Russian Prosecutor General’s Office.”
According to a statement of the Russian Prosecutor General’s Office, “As a result of a study of the materials received by the Prosecutor General’s Office of the Russian Federation, a decision was adopted to designate the activities of the following foreign non-governmental organizations as undesirable on the territory of the Russian Federation: World Organization to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong Inc. (WOIPFG, U.S.) Coalition to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong in China (U.S.), Global Mission to Rescue Persecuted Falun Gong Practitioners Inc. (GMRPFGP, U.S.), Friends of Falun Gong Inc. (U.S.), Doctors Against Forced Organ Harvesting (DAFOH, U.S.), Dragon Springs Buddhist Inc. (U.S.), and The European Falun Dafa Association (UK).”
The list includes the highly respected Doctors Against Forced Organ Harvesting, an organization that denounces organ harvesting in China from prisoners of conscience and includes well-known medical doctors who are not members of Falun Gong.
The Russian decision was loudly applauded by the China Anti-xie-jiao Association
Massimo Introvigne (born June 14, 1955 in Rome) is an Italian sociologist of religions. He is the founder and managing director of the Center for Studies on New Religions (CESNUR), an international network of scholars who study new religious movements. Introvigne is the author of some 70 books and more than 100 articles in the field of sociology of religion. He was the main author of the Enciclopedia delle religioni in Italia (Encyclopedia of Religions in Italy). He is a member of the editorial board for the Interdisciplinary Journal of Research on Religion and of the executive board of University of California Press’ Nova Religio. From January 5 to December 31, 2011, he has served as the “Representative on combating racism, xenophobia and discrimination, with a special focus on discrimination against Christians and members of other religions” of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). From 2012 to 2015 he served as chairperson of the Observatory of Religious Liberty, instituted by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in order to monitor problems of religious liberty on a worldwide scale.
