Serbia Detains Falun Gong Practitioners in Advance of CCP Leader’s Visit
‘This cowardly act was clearly instigated by the CCP, which has been exporting its domestic repression overseas,’ says Falun Dafa Information Center spokesman.
Serbian authorities arrested multiple Falun Gong practitioners ahead of a visit by Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leader Xi Jinping, only to release them after Xi left the country.
The regime has sought to export its persecution of Falun Gong—a spiritual discipline that consists of meditative exercises and moral principles—beyond its borders since 1999.
Serbian authorities arrested six practitioners and two of their relatives, holding them captive for around 24 hours in several locations, according to Dejan Markovic, one of the detainees. Those arrested included his brother and an 80-year-old woman.
Mr. Markovic said an arrest warrant issued for him stated that he was suspected of posing a threat to “persons under international protection.” After Xi left the country, he and the other detainees were handed a document saying the threat doesn’t exist anymore, according to files shared with The Epoch Times.
That document’s statement was the “biggest nonsense” in the whole affair, Mr. Markovic told The Epoch Times. He said that one Falun Gong practitioner was detained in a cell with a vegan activist whose advocacy group had campaigned a decade ago against dog meat being eaten in China.
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“Following this logic, anyone who ever said anything against China could be detained for security reasons,” he said. Mr. Markovic said he’s convinced the targeted arrests were a result of orders from the CCP.
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Serbian authorities haven’t publicly commented on the arrests and those detained haven’t been charged with any crimes. Serbia’s Ministry of Internal Affairs didn’t immediately respond to an inquiry by The Epoch Times.
