A Kyrgyz court has banned the Falun Gong spiritual group under pressure from neighboring China, which banned the group six years ago, organization members said Friday.
A district court revoked Falun Gong's registration after the Chinese Embassy asked the Justice Department to seek the ban, said lawyer Ivan Shkodyuk, who represented the group in court.
Falun Gong was registered as an organization in Kyrgyzstan last July and has about a dozen active members.
Justice Department and court officials could not be reached for comment late Friday.
Shkodyuk said the Justice Department cited an agreement between Kyrgyzstan and China on cooperating in fighting terrorism, separatism and extremism. The department's filing said the group posed a threat to the country's security, he said.
Shkodyuk said the trial lasted about 40 minutes and the court refused to consider the group's explanations.
"This is a result of China's pressure on Kyrgyzstan and is a violation of human rights," Shkodyuk said.
China's Communist government says Falun Gong is an "evil cult" which threatens to sabotage social order, and has arrested thousands of followers since it outlawed the group in 1999.
Practitioners claim they have been abused, tortured and killed by the hundreds in Chinese prisons and labor camps. Chinese authorities deny mistreatment.
Falun Gong drew millions of followers in the 1990s with its mix of calisthenics and doctrines drawn from Buddhism, Taoism and the ideas of its founder, Li Hongzhi.
China's is one of Kyrgyzstan's major trading partners.