Friday August 23, 2002

Dear Ambassador,

We are Russian practitioners of Falun Gong. When we learned that under the pressure of the Chinese Embassy in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, on August 9, 2002, the Cambodian police forced the return to China of the two Falun Gong practitioners, Li Guojun and his wife, Zhang Xinyi, who had worked in Phnom Penh, and had been granted asylum from the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, we felt extremely shocked and concerned. We protest against the Cambodian authority's illegal action that seriously contravenes the UN Refugee Convention.

They left for Phnom Penh from China after Jiang Zemin started to oppress Falun Gong in China in June 1999. Li Guojun and his wife taught in a Chinese school in Phnom Penh. This May, they were dismissed from their jobs when the school discovered that people sent them books and information about Falun Gong from abroad. In June, the couple was rejected by the Chinese Embassy when they applied for new passports. At the end of July, they applied for asylum from the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), and were granted the formal identity of asylum. On August 2, under the pressure of the Chinese government, the Cambodian police captured them and returned them to China. Now the couple is imprisoned in Changsha China. Their situation is not clear now, because the detention centre in Changsha city refuses to answer any questions. They are brutally persecuted for their belief now.

We, Russian Falun Gong practitioners, feel extremely concerned for the situation of our fellow practitioners in China. They only want to live under the virtuous principles of Truthfulness, Benevolence, and Forbearance--principles that can make people in the whole world become wise and good, so the society will become more stable. Just for believing in Truthfulness, Benevolence, and Forbearance, people are illegally imprisoned, beaten, tortured, spiritually tormented, raped, and cruelly persecuted to death in China. Falun Gong teaches people to be good: to be more honest, more benevolent, and more open-minded persons. This practice has spread for ten years. It has brought physical and spiritual harmony to a hundred million people in the world. People can cultivate Falun Gong freely in more than 50 countries.

We have witnessed Jiang Zemin exerting pressure upon many countries for three years. He intends to extend the persecution to other countries. We feel greatly shocked by such evil deeds.

We deeply believe that the whole world will realize and condemn the inhuman conduct of a few particular individuals in the Chinese government. They routinely violate national and international laws for their own power. They unscrupulously abuse the rights of their citizens, spread rumors and exert pressure upon other countries.

We deeply believe that reason and wisdom will construct the relationship between different countries in the world based on equality, legality, and justice; thus they will exert and protect the basic human rights from the standpoint of concern over the happiness of their own citizens. As a result, people in the world can maintain the goodness and purity that the earth should have.

We sincerely hope that your government will take the necessary actions to return Li Guojun and Zhang Xinyi to Cambodia as soon as possible. Please remember that there is justice in this world.

Sincerely

Russian Falun Gong practitioners