Pennsylvania Lawmakers Condemn CCPs Persecution, Transnational Repression

Local practitioners of the faith group Falun Gong held an awareness day at the Pennsylvania State Capitol in Harrisburg on Oct. 29 to draw attention to the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) ongoing persecution of practitioners in China and increasing use of transnational repression on U.S. soil.The day included visits to legislators’ offices and a news conference featuring bipartisan support from Pennsylvania state Sens. Doug Mastriano, a Republican, and Sharif Street, a Democrat.The event focused on the need for Pennsylvania and the federal government to take action against the CCP’s state-sanctioned abuses, particularly the forced organ harvesting of practitioners in China.Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is a spiritual practice and meditation discipline that teaches the principles of truth, compassion, and tolerance. First introduced to the public in China in 1992, it quickly grew in popularity. In 1999, the CCP launched a violent persecution against Falun Gong practitioners, with thousands sent to labor camps without trial or conviction, often facing torture in an attempt to force them to renounce their faith.The day before the Pennsylvania event, Mastriano sent a memo to all state Senate members to say he will, in the near future, introduce a resolution in the state Senate to condemn the CCP’s persecution of Falun Dafa and global efforts to repress the community.He said that the planned resolution was prompted by the CCP’s “acts of transnational repression targeting American citizens and residents, including those here in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.” He noted that such actions “represent not only a grave human rights crisis, but also a direct assault on American sovereignty, civil liberties, and freedom of conscience.”“Inspiration for the resolution is to call upon our federal government to pay attention and demand that the CCP stop its persecution, its organ harvesting, and let these people just walk as free men and women,” Mastriano told The Epoch Times.Oppression CondemnedAt the event, Mastriano said that the brutal persecution is facilitated by international silence driven by economic interests.“For far too long, because of trade and money, many nations have looked away silently, all because of economics,” he said. “But silence in the face of evil is complicity. You’re part of the problem if you’re standing aside.”Street also spoke during the event. He focused on the universal rights of freedom of belief and expression.“No group of people, Falun Dafa or any others, should be persecuted for their beliefs, for wanting to peacefully express their religious and cultural beliefs, for wanting to meditate, for wanting to be able to share their beliefs with other people,” he said.Pennsylvania state Senator Doug Mastriano talks to the media following the Falun Dafa Awareness Day press conference at the Pennsylvania State Capitol on Oct. 29, 2025. Steve Wen/The Epoch TimesStreet told The Epoch Times that the CCP regime should “do its best to respect the rights and the human integrity of each of its citizens.”He added that he felt an obligation to use his platform to stand against oppression “wherever I find it in the world.”Mastriano further condemned the violence. He told The Epoch Times that the practice of forced organ harvesting is “one of the most brutal things I’ve heard about my lifetime. And it must end today.” He also expressed deep concern over transnational repression, saying, “No foreign police, no foreign intelligence, should have power in our country.”State Sen. Sharif Street speaks at the Pennsylvania State Capitol on Oct. 29, 2025. Steve Wen/The Epoch TimesForced Organ HarvestingJessica Russo, a representative from Doctors Against Forced Organ Harvesting (DAFOH), spoke at the event to detail the scale of the brutality.Russo explained that Falun Gong practitioners are the largest victims of forced organ harvesting in China, which involves killing innocent prisoners of conscience for their organs.She said it is estimated that “every hour someone is being killed by forced organ harvesting.” She characterized the practice as primarily a “crime of genocide” driven by the CCP’s desire to eliminate any group that does not follow party lines.Jessica Russo, a representative from Doctors Against Forced Organ Harvesting (DAFOH), speaks at the press conference at the Pennsylvania State Capitol on Oct. 29, 2025. Jennifer Yang/The Epoch TimesRusso urged state legislators to support a bill in the U.S. Senate, the Falun Gong Protection Act (S. 817), and to introduce state bills to protect Pennsylvania’s medical community from being complicit in these crimes.Protecting Freedoms is Critical: OrganizerAlex Luchansky, the organizer of Falun Dafa awareness day, said there is an urgent need to address the CCP’s growing interference in the United States.Luchansky told The Epoch Times that while the persecution was primarily horrific inside China, it has recently escalated, with practitioners and affiliated organizations being “directly targeted with threats or their events being interrupted or interfered with.”He stressed that it is critical to protect freedoms in the United States “because if today, the Chinese Communist Party succeeds, then tomorrow, it can target any group, any belief system, any organization.”Luchansky thanked the supporting lawmakers.“We’re greatly thankful to honorable Sen. Doug Mastriano and to Sen. Street, who were able to come and voice their support and give us that important help and support that we so much needed,” he said.Steve Wen contributed to this report.