On January 21, 2001 from 2 to 4PM in Moscow, Russian Falun Dafa practitioners held a press conference to clarify the truth about Falun Gong. The Moscow Human Rights Protection Organization arranged the press conference.
Before the conference, practitioners from Moscow and Petersburg spent a whole day in preparation. They carefully discussed strategies for answering all possible types of questions. They also studied recent articles by Master Li. In addition, they collected many articles from Minghui Net as backup materials to present to the public. The main purpose of this conference was "Validate the Fa with reason, clarify the truth with wisdom, spread the Fa and offer people salvation with benevolence" (from Master's article Rationality). The process of preparation was both group study and experience sharing.
Five Russian practitioners (2 male, 3 female) attended the press conference. Two representatives from the Human Rights Protection Organization were also present. The organizers also invited Amnesty International's Moscow representatives and six reporters from newspapers such as Russian World News. Two reporters from Xinhua News Agency and the People's Daily Moscow invited themselves.
In the first ten minutes the practitioners gave a brief introduction to Falun Dafa. After that,
Questions and Answers took almost two hours. Since the Russian news media seldom covers Falun Dafa, and in their limited reports they often quote directly from the People's Daily, the practitioners took this opportunity to answer reporters' questions and clarify the truth. They used their own experience to verify Dafa. They described the benefits that Falun Gong gives society and the people using their own experiences in Falun Dafa cultivation. They also exposed the persecution against Falun Gong by Jiang Zemin and his followers.
Amnesty International provided third-party evidence of Chinese Falun Gong practitioners' being tortured to death by the government, and provided a list of their names.
The conference created an atmosphere of peace and harmony. Even the self-invited reporters from Xinhua and People's Daily did not cause any disturbance. The People's Daily reporter did nothing but take photos. He photographed the display and copied some descriptions. He hesitated a lot during his conversation. The Xinhua News Agency reporter was also quite incoherent and seemed confused.
Practitioners said that they felt Master Li's compassion and support throughout the conference. They felt as if he were holding everyone in his palm and they were completely immersed in Dafa. "The Master is here, Dafa is here." There was nothing to fear. Maintaining a calm attitude and focusing on the truth made the opposing forces fade to insignificance. The practitioners said that this experience has increased their confidence in their ability to spread the Fa and help society see the truth. These Russian practitioners have shown their increased maturity.
At the end of the conference, organizers expressed their satisfaction with the practitioners.
