September 20, 2001

In China, the evil regime of Jiang Zemin and Luo Gan has recently intensified its persecution of Falun Dafa practitioners. Falun Dafa practitioners were massacred in prisons and labour re-education camps. At the very least human rights were taken away. The cruel and inhuman acts of China ruling power directed at its own citizens would shock any normal person!

Currently SOS protest walks, bike teams, signature collecting and other appeal activities for Falun Gong have been carried out extensively all over the whole world. In Russia, in order for Russian society to pay attention to the cases of torture of practitioners in China, in order to appeal for the rescue of the hundreds of thousands of innocent Chinese practitioners, the Russian practitioners' bike team will carry out their SOS urgent rescue journey from Petrozavodsk to Moscow.

The bike team set off on September 19 from Petrozavodsk. The journey is 800 kilometres. Along the way the practitioners will pass through Leningrad, Novgorod and Moscow. There are fourteen practitioners and amongst them is a 12 year old youth and a 64-year-old senior citizen. Yellow jackets with the word SOS printed on them together with the display boards and slogans on the cars were made especially for the event. Before setting off, the practitioners held a press conference with reporters. Overcoming the difficulties of the journey will be in the hope of appealing for the rescue of the innocent fellow practitioners in China who are suffering maltreatment in the extreme. The bike team practitioners will clarify the truth about Falun Dafa to the residents in the cities and villages that they pass through and will distribute Falun Gong materials to them. They also plan to meet up with reporters and the local government officials.

Adapted from Statement issued by Russian Falun Dafa Information Centre