Horror about BodyWorlds: bodies may belong to those killed as a result of repressions in the PRC

Novye Izvestia received this information from the chairman of the Falun Dafa Association regarding the BodyWorlds project, which has been taking place at VDNKh for over a month.

Tatyana Kochina, the head of the organization that represents in Russia the followers of the Chinese system of spiritual and physical self-improvement Falun Gong, is convinced that the scandalous project of the German pathologist Gunther von Hagens "undermines the foundations of morality and ethics", and the bodies that are exhibited in the BodyWorlds, " with a high degree of probability, belong to people killed as a result of repressions".

We are publishing this appeal as a continuation of the public discussion on this matter.

“On March 12, 2021, an anatomical exhibition the BodyWorlds was opened on the territory of VDNKh in Moscow, the exhibits of which are disfigured corpses of human bodies or their individual parts.

A number of media outlets, as well as public figures of science, culture and art, expressed an extremely negative attitude towards this exhibition for the reason that the format of the expositions presented demonstrates a clear disrespect for the body of a deceased person, undermines the foundations of morality and ethics, does not correspond to traditional values and mentality Russian citizens.

There is one more important point that, in our opinion, deserves close attention: this is the question of the origin of bodies.

The official website of the BodyWorlds exhibition states that "All the exhibits (250) are real bodies donated by their owners for this educational project... In total, since 1980, more than 19,000 people have donated their bodies for plastination".

At the same time, there is information that, in our opinion, raises serious doubts about the legal receipt of the bodies used at the exhibition.

German pathologist Gunther von Hagens founded Von Hagens Plastination Ltd in August 1999 to produce plastinated human bodies in the Chinese city of Dalian, Liaoning province.

In a 2006 interview with New York Times reporters, Hagens revealed that he chose the city of Dalian "because of government support, low wages for workers, and a large source of human bodies".

At the same time, the enterprise was opened just a month after the Chinese Communist Party unleashed the persecution of citizens who practice the spiritual and health practice of Falun Gong in July of the same year. At that time, they numbered, according to various estimates, from 70 to 100 million people.

It should be noted that Bo Xilai, the former mayor of Dalian City and the influential party official who gave permission for Hagens' business, was one of the most implacable persecutors of Falun Gong.

Within a short time, 10 corpse processing factories were built, and Dalian became a global supplier of plastinated bodies.

For the work done, Bo Xilai personally presented Hagens with a medal and awarded him the title of "Honorary Citizen of Dalian".

According to some experts, over the past two decades, Falun Gong practitioners in China have been arrested, tortured and killed for upholding their spiritual beliefs.

At the same time that the body plastination industry began to flourish in the PRC, the number of organ transplants in the country increased exponentially.

Later, based on this fact, as well as a number of indisputable evidence, several experts concluded that Falun Gong adherents and other prisoners of conscience were victims of organ harvesting crimes.

It is characteristic that the building of the von Hagens factory was built near the three largest prisons in Dalian, to which the arrested were taken. According to human rights activists, nearly half of all inmates in prisons and camps in China are Falun Gong practitioners .

Elke Van den Brande, Regional Director of the International Coalition to End Transplant Abuse in China (ETAC) in the Benelux, said that the founding of a body plastination company in Dalian in the same year that the persecution of Falun Gong began suggests that that it was Falun Gong practitioners who were the main source of bodies from the very beginning, and most of the bodies on display belong to Falun Gong practitioners.

According to the well-known writer and journalist, Nobel Prize nominee Ethan Gutman, in the article “Bodies at the Exhibition. New Questions About the Origins of Plastinated Human Specimens Now Touring the World", published on July 29, 2013 in The Weekly Standard", ...in 2000 and 2001, between 500,000 and 1 million (Falun Gong) practitioners were imprisoned, and after the start of the organ harvesting operations, the von Hagens factories began an extensive supply of corpses of adults from 25 to 40 years...".

Gutman, who visited the BodyWorlds exhibition, noted: “At the exhibition in Vienna (I) noticed that the liver and kidneys were apparently missing in some of the exhibits. Obviously, organs were removed from the bodies before plastination".

For the first time, accusations against China in connection with forced organ harvesting were made in 2006. After his own investigation, Gutman concluded that at least 65,000 people repressed by the authorities were killed and their organs harvested for profit.

The Report of Canadian public figures D. Kilgour and D. Matas mentions the existence of dozens of medical clinics in China that offered clients the selection of the necessary organs (heart, liver, lungs, cornea of the eyes) and performing their transplant operations within one to four weeks. The organs were supplied from detention centers located in the immediate vicinity of medical institutions (Appendix 1. Brochure "Medicine as a tool of genocide").

The Independent Tribunal for China in London in 2019 found that organ harvesting has been happening in China for many years, and that most of the victims of forced organ harvesting are Falun Gong practitioners. "

Taking into account the conclusions of the experts, in our opinion, the bodies of people killed as a result of repressions can be exhibited at the exhibition with a high degree of probability.

Under such circumstances, we consider it unacceptable to hold the exhibition the BodyWorlds both for moral and ethical reasons, and in connection with the existing likelihood of using bodies obtained by criminal means. "

From the editorial board.

As a reminder, due to the great public outcry, the organizers of BodyWorlds at VDNKh have changed the age recommended for visiting the exhibition to "18+".

Opponents of the exhibition consider this measure "crafty", since minors can still visit the exposition: "accompanied by legal representatives and provided that the children reach the age of 12 years".

Earlier, "Rossiyskaya Gazeta" reported a case when a girl fainted while attending the BodyWorlds exhibition.

At the end of March, the Chairman of the Investigative Committee (IC) of the Russian Federation, Alexander Bastrykin, ordered a procedural check against the organizers of the exposition of human bodies and organs at VDNKh.

The results of this test are still unknown.

The department noted that a number of media outlets expressed negative comments about this commercial exhibition. According to many, this project is contrary to moral values, expresses a clear disrespect for human nature and can be regarded as offensive to the feelings of not only believers, but also just normal people.

Earlier, the head of the Council for the Development of Civil Society and Human Rights (HRC) under the President of the Russian Federation, Valery Fadeyev, also called for a legal assessment of the exhibition.

“As the lawyers explained to me, according to Article 68 of the Federal Law “On the Basics of Health Protection of Citizens in the Russian Federation”, the use of the body of a deceased person in Russia, subject to a number of conditions, is allowed for medical, scientific and educational purposes. Otherwise, the body of the deceased must be buried. In addition, it is possible that the exhibition violates the federal law “On the Protection of Children from Information Harmful to Their Health and Development". I believe that this exhibition requires a qualified legal assessment”, - noted Valery Fadeyev.