Miaoshi, Laeral— The Minjian High Conclave, the highest body of Minjian religious officials, issued a statement today from its headquarters in Miaoshi, denouncing the recent kidnapping and forced tattooing of two Lauchenoirian activists. “Acts against human decency and the integrity of the body such as these are sinful and depraved,” wrote the Counselor-Ardents of the Conclave in their formal opinion, which was unsigned. “All believers and all decent people must reject such pollutant acts.”
Two Lauchenoirian citizens, Clay Moss and Irene Ramos, were abducted two weeks ago from Lauchenoiria and subjected to torture by the Xiomeran intelligence services to extract information about the activities of the radical environmentalist terrorist organization Warriors of Our Earth, according to a televised statement by Xiomera’s Empress Calhualyana. International intelligence agencies and media outlets have confirmed their stories, which came to light after Moss and Ramos were returned to Lauchenoiria branded with forced tattoos bearing a Xiomeran flag and the words “Punished by the Empire” in the Xiomeran script. Governments worldwide, including Republic House, have condemned these kidnappings, which violate international law.
The Minjian high priests’ statement comes after several days of outcry from the Laeralian public, including several days of protest outside the Xiomeran embassy in Laeralsford, whose steps were smeared in red paint and handprints to evoke bloodstains. Several high-profile businesses, including the streetwear brand Jaguar TX, have announced that they will relocate their manufacturing operations from Xiomera in response to the kidnappings.
The statement by the Minjian High Conclave is unusual, but not unprecedented, as the Minjian institution has a history of speaking out on issues such as environmentalism, peace, and nuclear weapons, as well as same-sex marriage. As Minjian orthodoxy views tattoos, alongside piercings and scarification, as sacrilegious, forced tattooing was used against believers in medieval and late imperial warfare as well as the colonial conquest of Laeral. The punishment was reserved for the severest crimes, such as patricide, the killing of children, and the poisoning of a guest, during the Tian dynasty.
The Xiomeran Embassy in Laeral have yet to comment on the High Conclave’s statement, but the Calhualyana’s regime maintains that the kidnappings and torture were necessary to prevent ecoterrorism.
[…] most high-profile condemnation of Calhualyana’s actions, which she readily admitted to, was from the Minjian High Conclave at a time when many nations were remaining conspicuously […]