CV NEWS FEED // The European Parliament has issued a resolution calling on the European Union to condemn the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) for its “systematic persecution” of religious minorities, especially the Falun Gong religious movement.
The CCP has targeted the new age religious movement since 1999, “with horrific brutality,” according to European Times. Falun Gong practitioners have suffered government intimidation, unjust imprisonment, forced organ harvesting, and death. The Times continued:
With Chinese operatives moving to gain influence on European governments, media, educational institutions, and business enterprises, the EP resolution deserves the widest possible attention. It can show Europeans the true nature of the regime seeking the leadership of the ‘Community of Common Destiny for Mankind.’
Recent reports estimate that over 5,000 Falun Gong practitioners have been killed since the government began its campaign against the movement. In 2023 alone, CCP sentenced 1,188 practitioners of Falun Gong to prison, and killed 209.
The resolution cites the case of a Dr. Ding Yuande and Ms Ma Ruimei, a married couple the CCP arrested for practicing Falun Gong. Ms Ma has been released, but the CCP sentenced her husband to three years in prison and a 15,000 CNY ($2,113) fine.
The resolution also underscored the “thousands of Falun Gong practitioners [who] have died as a result of CCP’s persecution,” and who have been “frequently detained and reportedly subjected to torture, psychological abuse and organ harvesting so that they renounce their faith.”
“Respect for human rights, democracy and the rule of law should be at the center of the EU’s relations with China,” the resolution stated, calling on the EU and its Member States to publicly denounce China’s organ transplant abuses, and to place sanctions “against all perpetrators and entities that have contributed to the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners in China and abroad.”
“EU measures should include refusing visas, freezing assets, expulsion from EU territories, criminal prosecution, including on the basis of extraterritorial jurisdiction, and bringing international criminal charges;” the resolution concluded.
