The Chudovsky District Court of the Novgorod Region fined a local resident 6,000 rubles under an administrative charge of participating in the activities of an “undesirable” organization. Mediazona drew attention to the ruling.
According to the court decision, the woman was accused of involvement in several groups linked to the religious movement Falun Gong. Also known as Falun Dafa, the teaching became widespread in China in the 2000s and later spread beyond the country. It is based on spiritual practices incorporating elements of Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism, folk beliefs, and qigong exercises.
In Russia, as in China, Falun Gong followers face persecution: organizations tied to the movement are declared “undesirable,” and participants are subjected to administrative and criminal prosecution. The movement’s main text, Zhuan Falun, has been listed as “extremist” material since 2011, although experts from the Sova research center said they found no signs of extremism in the book.
The case against the woman stemmed from an online appeal she sent to the regional Investigative Committee in March 2025. In it, she said she had become a Falun Gong follower in 2000, described the positive effect the teaching had on her and her son, and expressed concern about the persecution of other followers in Russia.
According to the case materials, she called the criminal prosecution of Falun Gong followers for participation in an “undesirable” organization mistaken and said their rights were being infringed. She also disagreed with a Krasnodar court ruling that declared Zhuan Falun “extremist” in 2011 and described her own participation in various events, including health exhibitions.
After that, an FSB officer found references to Falun Gong in her VK profile description, a 2024 video about a movement rally in Tel Aviv, and a post urging people to sign a petition in defense of a Chinese woman who, the post said, had been arrested on false charges. FSB officers also searched the woman’s apartment and seized books and pamphlets about Falun Gong, electronic devices, and two photo albums.
Later, officers found messages on her phone discussing the movement and court cases against its followers, as well as photographs from Warsaw and Paris showing posters and leaflets bearing the words “Falun Dafa.” The woman did not admit guilt and refused to testify, invoking Article 51 of the Russian Constitution. She said the photographs that drew the attention of security officers had been taken in the early 2000s, that she had not attended Falun Gong events since 2023, that she edits texts for a television channel that also covers Falun Dafa, and that she keeps the books at home for personal use. She called the ban on the movement’s activity in Russia unfair and unfounded.