(Clearwisdom.net)

Mr. Anatoliy Kinakh
Prime Minister
Government of Ukraine
Kiev
Ukraine

29 August 2002

Dear Mr. Kinakh:

We are extremely concerned about the treatment of the 23 Falun Gong practitioners in the Ukraine. On August 24 of this year, while they were peacefully practicing the Falun Gong exercises in the park, they were questioned brusquely by the police and taken into detention. Eyewitnesses heard the police saying that it was due to the pressure exerted from Beijing and that they had no choice but to take the practitioners to the police station.

The Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine will be subjected to pressure from the Chinese Embassy to compel your government to take a tougher stand on Falun Gong. China wants at all costs to eradicate Falun Gong, which is a spiritual discipline leading to self-improvement through practicing the universal principles of Truth-Benevolence-Tolerance and which has absolutely no political agenda. The practitioners should never have been detained. In a truly democratic country, freedom of belief, association and expression must be a reality.

The 23 Falun Dafa practitioners did nothing wrong; for the past two years they have practiced regularly in that park with the consent of the authorities. The case was brought before the judge on August 27 on the charge of unauthorized assembly. Fortunately, however, the judge dismissed the case as "groundless."

We applaud the fact that justice in Ukraine is impartial. We hope it will be the same in the political field and that this young democracy will always remain upright, even when confronted with a big country like China.

May your future be outstanding.

Yours sincerely