Residents in each city condemned the CCP for its brutality, especially its crime of harvesting organs from practitioners while they are alive. They signed the petition calling for an end to the CCP’s atrocities, and to bring Jiang Zemin, the former head of the CCP who launched the persecution, to justice.

Many young people in Sofia were curious and wished to learn more about Falun Dafa. Tsvetelina, a young political scientist, said she wants to help end the CCP’s persecution.

Two young women came together to sign the petition. One of them said that she was reading a Falun Dafa book, and supported the human rights of Falun Dafa practitioners in China and all over the world.

Background: What is Falun Dafa?

Falun Dafa (also known as Falun Gong) was first introduced to the public by Mr. Li Hongzhi in Changchun, China, in 1992. The spiritual discipline is now practiced in over 100 countries and regions worldwide.

Millions of people who have embraced the teachings—which are based on the principles of Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance—and learned the five exercises, have experienced improved health and well-being.

Jiang Zemin, former head of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), perceived the spiritual discipline’s growing popularity as a threat to the CCP’s atheistic ideology and on July 20, 1999, issued an order to ban the practice.

Minghui.org has confirmed the deaths of thousands of practitioners as a result of the persecution over the past 22 years. The actual number is believed to be much higher. More have been imprisoned and tortured for their faith.

There is concrete evidence that the CCP sanctions the harvesting of organs from detained practitioners, who are murdered to supply the organ transplant industry.

Under Jiang’s personal direction, the CCP established the 610 Office, an extralegal security organisation with the power to override the police and judicial systems and whose sole function is to carry out the persecution of Falun Dafa.