Report by Canadian Official and Human Rights Defender Deemed Extremist

On August 26, 2008, the Pervomaiskii District Court, in Krasnodar, declared materials related to the Chinese spiritual discipline Falun Gong to be "extremist.'

News about this ruling emerged through the posting of an updated federal list of extremist materials.

The following materials were declared extremist:

* The book :Zhuan Falun; by Li Hongzhi, published by "Cameron' Publishing House, Moscow, 2006, and printed at :Tipografiya Nauka; with a quantity of 5000 copies.

* The brochure :Revised Report into Allegations of Organ Harvesting of Falun Gong Practitioners in China; by David Matas and David Kilgour, Saint Petersburg, 2007; printed at Tipograficheskii Complex :Deviz; with a quantity of 5000 copies.

* Informational pamphlet :Falun Dafa in the World; :Human Rights Torch Relay;

* Informational pamphlet :Human Rights Torch Relay;

The first book is a treatise on the spiritual practice behind Falun Gong. Without reading the book in its entirety or seeing the decision of the judge, we cannot evaluate the legality of the ruling as extremist. However, the remaining materials on the list force us to doubt the overall legality of this ruling.

One of the authors of the report, David Kilgour, is a former Royal Prosecutor, former Member of Parliament, and former Canadian Secretary of State for the Asia-Pacific Region. The report and the human rights torch were dedicated to the problems of persecution and physical repression of followers of Falun Gong in China.

Neither informational pamphlet about human rights, not the report by the Canadian human rights defenders, in our view, shows any signs of extremism.