Mikhail Antonenko, Gennady Buslov, Natalya Minenkova, Mikhail Sinitsyn, Zhu Yun, and Oksana Shchetkina are political prisoners
Six Falun Gong adherents are being prosecuted under the unconstitutional article of the Russian Criminal Code on ‘undesirable organisations’
The ‘Political Prisoners. Memorial’ human rights project, in accordance with international standards, considers Oksana Shchetkina, Natalya Minenkova, Mikhail Sinitsyn, Mikhail Antonenko, Zhu Yun, and Gennady Buslov as political prisoners. They have been charged with organising and participating in the activities of an ‘undesirable organisation’ solely for their adherence to Falun Gong, a Chinese religious movement. They are being prosecuted for the non-violent exercise of their rights to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; freedom of expression and information; and freedom of peaceful assembly and association. Their right to fair trial has also been violated. We demand the immediate release of Oksana Shchetkina, Natalya Minenkova, Mikhail Sinitsyn, Mikhail Antonenko, Zhu Yun, and Gennady Buslov and that all criminal charges against them be dropped.
What are the charges against the adherents of Falun Gong?
Falun Gong is a religious movement incorporating elements of Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism, based on traditional Chinese qigong exercises. It emerged in China in the early 1990s and has faced repression in that country since the late 1990s. In Russia, adherents of Falun Gong have officially registered their associations for many years and practised qigong in parks and public spaces allocated by the authorities.
However, in July 2020 several international organisations linked to Falun Gong were declared ‘undesirable’ in Russia. This decision opened the way for Russian movement followers to be prosecuted under criminal law.
The first person to be charged was 48-year-old Oksana Shchetkina from Pyatigorsk who was arrested in March 2024. On 27 November, a court in Pyatigorsk convicted her on a charge of organising the activities of an ‘undesirable organisation’ (Article 284.1, Part 3, of the Russian Criminal Code) and sentenced her to two years’ imprisonment in a general regime penal colony.
On 3 May 2024, Natalya Minenkova was remanded in custody in Moscow. On 9 August, two qigong instructors in Krasnodar, Mikhail Sinitsyn and Mikhail Antonenko, were taken into custody. On 22 November, Zhu Yun, a businessman linked to Falun Gong, was remanded in custody in Tomsk. All four await trial on charges of organising the activities of an ‘undesirable organisation’.
On 23 September 2024, searches were conducted of the homes of Falun Gong adherents in Mordovia. There, Ildar Maksinyaev, a trainer, was remanded in custody on a charge of organising the activities of an ‘undesirable organisation’. On 18 December, he was convicted and sentenced to 400 hours of community service.
On 4 December 2024, Gennady Buslov was detained in Moscow Oblast. Buslov became the first Falun Gong adherent to be remanded in custody on a charge of participating in the activities of an ‘undesirable organisation’(Article 284.1, Part 1). Earlier, in February 2024, Buslov had been convicted and fined for the analogous administrative-law charge.
Why do we consider Falun Gong adherents political prisoners?
The persecution of Falun Gong adherents has its origins in the intolerance of the Chinese authorities towards movements outside the control of the Chinese Communist Party. Repressive measures against Falun Gong adherents have been ongoing in China for nearly 30 years and have repeatedly been the subject of international investigations.
In Russia, the crackdown on Falun Gong adherents began in 2011 with the banning of certain Falun Gong publications. In 2023 the European Court of Human Rights ruled this ban was unlawful. On 20 July 2020, the Russian Prosecutor General’s Office declared several foreign and international organisations connected to Falun Gong ‘undesirable’. The sole grounds given for this decision was the unsubstantiated claim that the organisation ‘poses a threat to the security of the Russian Federation’.
In our view, the entire legal framework surrounding the concept of ‘undesirable organisations’ is punitive and unlawful in nature. The ‘undesirable’ label effectively bans all activities associated with an organisation, while cooperation with such organisations can result in Russian citizens being imprisoned. Moreover, the extrajudicial process of designating organisations as ‘undesirable’ is subjective and arbitrary in nature, with no provision for adversarial procedures, evidentiary argumentation, or transparency.
All those remanded in custody in Russia in connection with Falun Gong are being prosecuted for holding meetings, practising qigong exercises, and distributing literature — actions criminalised solely for their association with Falun Gong. We consider there are no lawful grounds for the ban on Falun Gong and the alleged threats posed by its activities are unproven. Falun Gong organisations operate freely in democratic countries. Russia is the only country in the world, apart from China and possibly North Korea, where Falun Gong is banned.
We believe that adherents of Falun Gong are being prosecuted solely for their religious beliefs. Moreover, the political motivation for this persecution is clear: it serves to strengthen Russia’s relations with China.
A detailed description of the prosecutions of Falun Gong adherents and of our position is available on our website.
Recognition of an individual as a political prisoner does not imply the ‘Political Prisoners. Memorial’ human rights project agrees with, or approves, their views, statements, or actions.
How can you help?
You can write to Natalya Minenkova and Gennady Buslov at the following addresses:
In Russian:
109383, г. Москва, ул. Шоссейная, д. 92, ФКУ СИЗО-6 ГУФСИН России по г. Москве, Миненковой Наталье Германовне 1977 г. р. (предположительный)
109382, г. Москва, ул. Верхние поля, д. 57, ФКУ СИЗО-7 ГУФСИН России по г. Москве, Буслову Геннадию Павловичу 1971 г. р. (предположительный)
In English:
Natalya Germanovna Minenkova (born 1977), Remand Prison No. 6, Federal Penitentiary Service of Russia for Moscow, 92 Shosseynaya Street, Moscow, 109383, Russia (probable address)
Gennady Pavlovich Buslov (born 1971), Remand Prison No. 7, Federal Penitentiary Service of Russia for Moscow, 57 Verkhnie Polya Street, Moscow, 109382, Russia (probable address)
You can also send an e-mail via F-Pismo and ZT (for payments with Russian cards), PrisonMail (for payments with other cards), OVD-Info and Memorial-France (free of charge).
Please note that letters in languages other than Russian are highly unlikely to reach the recipient.
You can donate to help all political prisoners in Russia.
