The European Court of Human Rights has found it unlawful for Russia to ban on publications of the spiritual practice Falun Gong and materials shedding light on the ongoing persecution targeting the faith in China.
In a Jan. 31 ruling, the Strasbourg Court held that Russia’s ban—imposed on four Falun Gong informational materials, including its main book “Zhuan Falun”—violated freedom of expression as defined in the European Convention on Human Rights.
The Pervomayskiy District Court in Krasnodar first issued the ban in August 2008, around the time Beijing was hosting its first Olympic event, applying the extremist label on the Falun Gong book, two pamphlets serving to introduce the practice and promote a worldwide Olympic torch protest meant to highlight the human rights abuses targeting the faith, as well as an investigative report on the Chinese regime’s state-led forced organ harvesting….