Ahead of CCP Leader’s Visit, Serbia Rounds Up, Detains Falun Gong Practitioners

Serbian authorities arrested multiple Falun Gong practitioners ahead of a visit by Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leader Xi Jinping, only to release them after Xi left the country.

The move by Serbian authorities occurred just days after Russian authorities raided five homes and arrested four Falun Gong practitioners ahead of a planned meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Xi.

The regime has sought to export its persecution of Falun Gong—a spiritual discipline that consists of meditative exercises and moral principles—beyond its borders since 1999.

Serbian authorities arrested six practitioners and two of their relatives on May 7, holding them captive for around 24 hours in several locations, according to Dejan Markovic, one of the detainees. Those arrested included his brother and an 80-year-old woman.

Mr. Markovic said an arrest warrant issued for him stated that he was suspected of posing a threat to “persons under international protection.”

After Xi left the country, he and the other detainees were handed a document saying the threat doesn’t exist anymore, according to files shared with The Epoch Times.

Related Stories

That document’s statement was the “biggest nonsense” in the whole affair, Mr. Markovic told The Epoch Times. He said that one Falun Gong practitioner was detained in a cell with a vegan activist whose advocacy group had campaigned a decade ago against dog meat being eaten in China.

Serbia, a member of China’s Belt and Road Initiative, relies heavily on billions of dollars in investments from China, drawing increased concerns from the European Union, which Serbia has long sought to join.

Falun Gong practitioners call for an end to the persecution of the spiritual group in China, during an event marking 24 years since the launch of the persecution, on Capitol Hill, on July 20, 2023. (Samira Bouaou/The Epoch Times)

“We caution all of our partners and all of our interlocutors to be very aware of China’s agenda in Europe and China’s agenda with regard to the European community,” said Gabriel Escobar, U.S. envoy for the Western Balkans, at a press conference about Xi’s recent visit.

Serbian authorities threw a substantial welcoming ceremony for Xi, busing thousands of people from across Serbia to chant “China, Serbia” and wave flags in front of the Serbia Palace. A Chinese flag several floors high was featured on a skyscraper near the airport, with smaller Chinese flags visible along the main highway and downtown.

During the meeting, the two leaders reaffirmed a free trade agreement set to take effect in July. Serbia’s populist president, Aleksandar Vučić, addressing the crowd from the balcony, called Xi an “ironclad” friend and praised his visit as “historic” for its potential to bring the countries closer.

“It is deplorable to see a country that was once proud of its own history and record of moving away from the communist system to now embrace the CCP,” Erping Zhang, spokesperson for the Falun Dafa Information Center, told The Epoch Times. “This cowardly act was clearly instigated by the CCP, which has been exporting its domestic repression overseas.”

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic (R) stands next to Chinese Communist Party leader Xi Jinping during a welcome ceremony in Belgrade, on May 8, 2024. (ELVIS BARUKCIC/AFP via Getty Images)

Beijing has consistently exerted diplomatic pressure and other coercive measures to downplay any negative information during officials’ trips overseas.

During Xi’s 2015 trip to Washington, the Chinese consulate in New York funded hundreds of protesters to counter Falun Gong demonstrations. A similar scene played out during the U.S.–China summit in San Francisco in November 2023, with suspected Chinese agents attacking protesters who were highlighting the regime’s abuses at home.

It wasn’t the first time Serbian practitioners have been arrested ahead of a visit by a hig-- level CCP official. In 2014, Serbian police arrested 11 Falun Gong practitioners who planned to hold peaceful demonstrations to raise awareness of the state-led forced organ harvesting in China ahead of a summit between then-Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and countries in central and eastern Europe.

Mr. Markovic noted that in 2019, when he and his daughter released a documentary called “The Blacklisted,” which highlights the harassment of Falun Gong practitioners in Serbia under communist China’s pressure, authorities blocked them from screening the film in several venues. Ultimately, the film was shown at a venue belonging to an Austrian company that the Serbian government couldn’t control.

Daughter Li Xiaohua and mother Ju Reihjong attend a candlelight vigil to commemorate the victims of the 23-year-long persecution of Falun Gong in China, held at the Washington Monument on July 21, 2022. Ju holds a photo of her husband and Li's father, Li Delong, who died in the persecution.(Samira Bouaou/The Epoch Times)

​​On May 7, when the police turned up and summoned them to the station, the officers made it clear they were just following orders, Mr. Markovic said.

“They know that we are peaceful,” he said. The police boss of Belgrade told them: “I know that you guys are good people. I will not question you. I don’t need to question you. But the district attorney asked us for 48 hours detention,” Mr. Markovic recounted. “He can’t do anything about it.”

Mr. Markovic said that the practitioners plan to sue the government over the detention. Falun Gong practitioners in Serbia have previously brought forth two suits against the government, one over the 2014 arrests, which they won in the country’s highest court

“For this one, we will also sue them and I’m sure we will win.”