A Falun Gong follower from the Novgorod region was fined for appealing to the Investigative Committee with a request not to persecute supporters of the doctrine.

The Chudovsky District Court of the Novgorod Region fined a local resident six thousand rubles under a protocol on participation in an “undesirable” organization. Mediazona drew attention to the court’s decision .

Judging by the resolution, the woman was charged with participation in several organizations associated with the Falun Gong religious movement from China.

The Falun Gong movement became popular in China in the 2000s, and later spread beyond the country. It is based on spiritual practices with elements of Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism, folk beliefs and qigong gymnastics. Followers of the movement often gather together for meditation, physical and breathing exercises.

The Russian authorities, like those of China, persecute Falun Gong supporters. Organizations associated with the movement are recognized as “undesirable”, and its participants are brought to administrative and criminal liability. The main treatise of the teaching, Zhuan Falun, has been on the register of “extremist” materials since 2011. Experts from the SOVA research center found no signs of extremism in this book.

The protocol was drawn up after Novgorod’s appeal to the regional department of the Investigative Committee, which she sent online in March 2025. In it, the woman said that she became a follower of Falun Gong in 2000 and spoke about the positive impact of this teaching on herself and her son.

In her appeal, the Novgorod woman “expressed concern about the situation” with other followers of the movement in Russia - she called it erroneous to prosecute these people under a criminal article for participation in an “undesirable” organization and infringement of their rights. The woman also “reflected disagreement” with the decision of the Krasnodar court, which recognized the book “Zhuan Falun” as “extremist” in 2011.

The resolution states that the Novgorod resident also told the Investigative Committee about her participation in various events, including health exhibitions.

After the appeal, an FSB operative found on the woman’s VKontakte page mentions of “Falun Gong” in the profile description and a video from 2024 about an action by followers of the movement in Tel Aviv. The security official also drew attention to the publication with a request to sign a petition in defense of a Chinese woman, “who was arrested on false charges in order to please the Chinese Communist Party.”

In addition, FSB officers conducted an “inspection” of the Novgorod woman’s apartment and confiscated books and booklets about Falun Gong, equipment and two photo albums from her. Later, security forces found correspondence on the woman’s phone discussing the movement and the trials of its followers, as well as photographs from Warsaw and Paris against the backdrop of posters and leaflets with the words “Falun Dafa.”

The woman did not admit guilt and refused to give explanations on the case, taking advantage of the right guaranteed by Article 51 of the Constitution. At the same time, the Novgorod resident reported that all the photographs that interested the security forces were taken in the early 2000s, and since 2023 she has not taken part in Falun Gong events.

In written explanations, the woman indicated that she edits texts for a TV channel, which “including covers the topic of Falun Dafa,” and keeps books about the movement at home for herself. Novgorodka repeated that she does not consider Falun Gong a destructive movement, and called the ban on its activities in Russia “unfair and unfounded.”