Concern Over Falun Gong Activities In Ukraine

27.11.2002, 16:19

Centers of the Chinese organization Falun Gong have recently started their activities in large regional eastern Ukrainian centers, particularly in Donetsk, Dnipropetrovsk, Kyiv, and Odesa, according to Yurii Cherkasov, deputy secretary of state at the Ministry of Foreign Relations of Ukraine. This news was reported by the press service of “Dialogue,” the All-Ukrainian Center of Religious Security and Assistance to Victims of Destructive Sects on 26 November 2002.

According to “Dialogue,” members of the Falun Gong movement in China have committed approximately 500 religious suicides and had numerous clashes with Chinese law enforcement bodies. Tetiana Semykop, head of the Odesa regional juvenile department of criminal police, met with the heads of Falun Gong and found out that the organization only deals with martial arts and has no connection to religion. However, members of “Dialogue” do not believe this to be a proof, because in China members of Falun Gong did not commit suicides from the first days of their activities and pretended to be an organization which only deals with martial arts. Source: www.orthodox.org.ua