The Associated Press
Thursday, Sept. 23, 1999; 9:48 a.m. EDT

BEIJING –– China plans to prosecute at least 10 publishers of books and materials on an outlawed meditation group before putting leading members of the popular sect on trial, a human rights group reported today.

The 10 – from four cities across China – have been indicted on charges of illegal business and selling illegal publications, the Hong Kong-based Information Center of Human Rights and Democratic Movement in China reported.

Word of the indictments coincides with new regulations recently issued by the State Council, or cabinet, to tighten control over all forms of qigong – the widely practiced slow-motion exercises on which the Falun Gong movement is partly based.

Under the restrictions, published today in the Health Ministry's official newspaper, qigong may not be practiced in government or military institutions, embassies, airports, train or bus stations, ports, streets or other "important public places."

The restrictions ban qigong "schools" and prohibit followers from publishing materials to propagate the practice of holding rallies, meditation activities or lectures, the Health Daily reported.

"Health-building" or "general" qigong is allowed, but such groups must cease their activities until they have registered with the government, the report said. It added that once registered, the groups must remain small, scattered, local and voluntary in nature.

The regulations underscored the communist government's lingering nervousness about Falun Gong and may presage a crackdown against other popular forms of qigong – pronounced "chee-gong."

Falun Gong preaches a blend of slow-motion exercises and ideas borrowed from Buddhism and Taoism that believers say promote health and morality.

China's leadership banned Falun Gong in July, fearing that its popularity and its ability to mobilize thousands of followers in protests threatened the Communist Party's claim to be the legitimate vanguard of the people.

It was unclear whether the 10 people accused of publishing Falun Gong materials printed and circulated the materials before or after the group was outlawed.

Three of those indicted – Huang Dekun, Cheng Shulin and Zhang Kai – used the Xinhua printing plant in Zigong city in southwestern Sichuan province to print 80,000 Falun Gong tracts, the Information Center reported.

All 10 will go on trial in October and face prison sentences in the five-year range, the center said.

It added that their prosecution would test public sentiment before putting on trial some of the 50 leading Falun Gong organizers being held.

Although thousands of Falun Gong followers have been detained in the crackdown, so far only five have been publicly charged with illegally organizing gatherings. Falun Gong founder Li Hongzhi, a Chinese national who lives in the United States, is on the police "most wanted" list.

Initially, the government tolerated Falun Gong, which was especially popular among women and the middle-aged and, by some estimates, had drawn tens of millions of adherents. Some prominent officials condoned it as a way to improve health.