Italian Senator Voices Support for Falun Gong Practitioners at Hearing on International Day in Support of Victims of Torture

(Minghui.org) At a Senate hearing in Rome on June 26, 2024, Senator Cinzia Pellegrino, member of the Italian Senate Human Rights Committee and EU Policy Commissioner, spoke about the persecution and torture that Falun Gong practitioners are suffering in China.

Senator Cinzia Pellegrino of the Italian Republic addressed the hearing.

Cinzia Pellegrino (fifth from right) joins Falun Gong practitioners at their rally in front of the Chinese Embassy in Rome on June 26, 2024.

This year marks 25 years in the Falun Gong practitioners’ efforts to peacefully protest the ongoing persecution. On June 25, 2024, the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 4132, the Falun Gong Protection Act, in an unanimous voice vote. This bill would impose sanctions on perpetrators of forced organ harvesting and call for an end to the persecution.

On June 29, Radio Radicale interviewed Falun Gong practitioners in Italy regarding the passage of the Falun Gong Protection Act in the U.S. House. For years, Radio Radicale has been following the human rights situation of Falun Gong practitioners in China. In the interview, the radio station reiterated the importance and significance of this American bill, especially as the 25^th year of the CCP’s continuous persecution of the practice was approaching.

June 26 was International Day in Support of Victims of Torture. At the Senate hearing in Rome, Senator Pellegrino proposed and spoke about ending the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners through torture, condemning forced organ harvesting, and supporting Falun Gong practitioners’ efforts in opposing the persecution. The title of her speech was: “End Torture – Persistently Support the People that Fight Against It.”

Senator Pellegrino said in her speech: “Today, I want to remind us to pay special attention to a fact: the torture that Falun Gong practitioners are suffering in China. Falun Gong is a way of life that is based on principles. It follows compassion and tolerance, and is a tranquil and peaceful living philosophy. It’s a type of spiritual religion that quickly attracted 70 to 100 million Chinese cultivators since it was introduced to the public in 1992. However, even though its nature is based on the goal to elevate people’s body and mind through peace and meditation, its followers suffered an inhumane and systematic suppression and persecution by China’s current regime, which continued to this day. Over 100,000 people were sent to labor camps and about 1,000 people were imprisoned and sentenced to terms over 18 years.

“Most importantly, besides unreasonable arrests and indescribable humiliation and sexual abuse, Falun Gong practitioners in China suffer from a brutal persecution, even including forcibly extracting organs from living people without anesthesia. Our promise to oppose torture must be unconditional and persistent. We also must pay close attention to Falun Gong practitioners and other minority groups (Uyghurs, Tibetans, and Christians) in China.

“We must support all initiatives that aim to safeguard democracy, religious freedom, and free speech, and reiterate our firm condemnation of human rights violations in China. Today, I want to say: we must strengthen our support to the victims, and promise persistent efforts as an agency, for a world that is free from torture and all acts of humiliating violence and brutality and one that gives others dignity.”

Senator Pellegrino’s speech was also reported by leading Italian news agency ANSA.