China Speeds Up Crackdown on Sect

Speeding a government crackdown against the banned Falun Gong spiritual movement, prosecutors in three Chinese cities have filed criminal charges against six group members, a court official and a human rights group reported Wednesday.

The spate of indictments comes less than three days after the national legislature revised the criminal law to allow harsher punishments for principal members of Falun Gong and other groups the Communist government labels cults.

China’s chief prosecutorial agency issued a nationwide directive Tuesday to accelerate indictments of “backbone members” of Falun Gong, the Information Center of Human Rights and Democratic Movement in China, a Hong Kong-based rights group, reported.

The move indicates that dozens, if not hundreds, of sect members rounded up since the Communist Party banned the group more than three months ago could be brought to trial quickly.