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The prosecution, during closing arguments at the Tushino District Court in Moscow, has requested that Natalia Minenkova, a cashier at a dental clinic and follower of the Falun Gong practice, be sentenced to 4.5 years in a penal colony. This was reported by RusNews from the courtroom.
The woman is charged under the article on organising the activities of an “undesirable organisation” (Part 3 of Article 284.1 of the Criminal Code). Since her arrest in May 2024, she has been held in a pre-trial detention centre.
According to the original version of the investigation, Minenkova organised the activities of the “Centre for Spiritual and Physical Perfection Falun Dafa” Association in the capital.
She is accused of renting a venue, recruiting new followers to the practice, conducting group study of religious literature, and distributing it. In addition, the investigation claims Minenkova “used various methods of secrecy to communicate with members of the Centre.”
Notably, the Ministry of Justice’s list of “undesirable organisations” does not include the organisation with which Minenkova is accused of being connected. In 2020, the Prosecutor General’s Office designated seven organisations linked to Falun Gong as “undesirable,” but the Centre was not among them. In the current charges, Minenkova is accused of ties with two foreign “undesirable organisations.”
“At first, I was accused of being associated with other organisations—the World Organization to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong in China and the USA, ‘Friends of Falun Gong’*, ‘Doctors Against Forced Organ Harvesting’*… In the end, only two were left. Let me say right away: the ‘European Falun Gong Association’ ceased to exist several years ago,” RusNews quotes Minenkova’s statement in court.
The woman said that there are no conversations or correspondence with the organisations she is accused of being linked to in the case files. She also noted that she does not know English.
“Is it a crime to rent a venue for qigong practice? The Association I belonged to had the right to hold seminars and exhibitions. Surely, it’s hard to hold meetings without renting premises. We were regularly inspected by the Ministry of Justice. I’m really curious how renting a space ‘poses a threat to the constitutional order and defence capability of the state.’ Does that make you laugh? For me, it’s written in the indictment,” the defendant said.
On 23 July, Natalia Minenkova will speak her final words in court.
- Falun Gong is a system of spiritual and physical development created by Li Hongzhi in the early 1990s in China. Followers of Falun Gong practise meditation with exercises to improve physical health as well as to achieve moral and spiritual purity. Supporters of the practice face persecution for criticising the Chinese authorities.