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In this issue:
UK Falun Gong Association Filed the Lawsuit for the Arrest of Bo Xilai; Falun Gong practitioners from the UK and Europe appealed near London's Buckingham Palace during Hu Jintao 's visit.
German President Koehler hakes hands with Falun Gong practitioners during meeting with Hu Jintao in Berlin.
Hu Jintao visits Spain, Falun Gong practitioners demand an end to the persecution.
Update on the Status of Falun Dafa Practitioners Arrested in Xiamen in December 2004.
Falun Gong practitioners read the Falun Dafa Association Announcement in Chinese and English in front of the Chinese Embassy at the Hague in Holland.
UK Falun Gong Association Filed the Lawsuit for the Arrest of Bo Xilai
Wednesday November 9, 2:19 AM
AFP reported that the Falun Gong [spiritual group] said it was taking legal action in Britain to have visiting Chinese trade minister Bo Xilai arrested for allegedly torturing its members.
The case against Bo, who is accompanying Chinese President Hu Jintao on a state visit to Britain, was being filed Tuesday with the Bow Street Magistrates Court in London, the group said.
The application for an arrest warrant relates to Bo's time as governor of Liaoning province, northeast Chin, and his alleged promotion of the torture and ill-treatment of Falun Gong practitioners.
Dee Ling, from the Falun Gong Association in Britain, told AFP: "We're applying for an arrest warrant for a criminal lawsuit against him for crimes of torture.
"He was actively involved in persecuting Falun Gong members, who were put in prison and many of whom were tortured to death," she alleged. Dee said the case -- due to be heard by magistrates in central London later Tuesday -- was the second time the association had applied for an arrest warrant against Bo in Britain.
A file was passed to London's Metropolitan Police in May 2004 but the force did not proceed, citing Bo's diplomatic immunity.
Helen Chantry, a fellow association member, said: "We expect that our case will be given full consideration and that despite the fact this man (Bo) might claim diplomatic immunity... that shouldn't be a shield behind which these people can hide."
The Falun Gong movement -- also known as Falun Dafa -- is a traditional Chinese spiritual discipline for the mind and body, according to its British website.
It claims 100 million followers throughout the world but has been outlawed in Chin since the time of the previous president Jiang Zemin.
Supporters claim Beijing proscribed the organisation -- and illegally detained thousands of its followers -- because its members exceeded those of the ruling Communist Party.
Many of its British members were among the hundreds of protesters outside Queen Elizabeth II's official London residence, Buckingham Palace, to show their disapproval of Hu's visit to the British capital.
United Kingdom: Practitioners Call for an End to the Persecution as Hu Jintao Visits England
On Tuesday November 8, 2005, the head of the Chinese Communist Party visited England. Falun Gong practitioners from the UK and Europe appealed near London's Buckingham Palace to call on him to stop the persecution of Falun Gong. The practitioners held banners worded, "Bring Jiang Zemin, Luo Gan, Liu Jing and Zhou Yongkang to Justice," "Falun Dafa is Great!" "Hu Jintao, the Time that Heaven and the People Give to You is Limited," and "Stop the Persecution of Falun Gong." As Hu's motorcade passed by, the practitioners also spoke these phrases loudly towards it.
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Since 1999, the Chinese Communist Party has waged a brutal and systematic persecution against the 100 million people in Chin who practice Falun Gong. Over 2,700 innocent practitioners have lost their lives at the hands of the CCP, many of them through torture. Practitioners all over the world have joined practitioners in Chin for the past five years in peacefully appealing for an end to the persecution and calling for people in Chin to enjoy the same freedom to practice Falun Gong as people all over the world.
Due to the media attention on this event, many journalists were interested in talking to Falun Gong practitioners about why they were appealing to Hu Jintao. One practitioner told Clearharmony: "Falun Gong practitioners' tireless efforts were intended to have Hu Jintao learn the facts about Falun Gong and to help him make a wise choice, stopping the persecution against Falun Gong and choosing a bright future for himself and the Chinese people." Interviews were aired on radio and TV including the BBC's flagship political program Newsnight, where a practitioner outlined the horrific forms of torture that are used on Falun Gong practitioners.
Throughout the past week, many activities have been held all over London to let people know about the human rights atrocities that the CCP continues to commit against Falun Gong practitioners. These have included anti-torture exhibitions where practitioners have simulated just a few of the many forms of torture that the CCP regularly employs in attempts to force Falun Gong practitioners to renounce their beliefs.
The practitioners will continue their 24 hour appeal at Buckingham Palace until Hu leaves on Thursday morning.
Source: http://clearharmony.net/articles/200511/29741.html
German President Meets with Practitioners - German Police Withstand Pressure from Chinese Delegation
By Minghui.org correspondent from Germany
German President Koehler met with Hu Jintao in Berlin. Cheers and jeers were heard, and Chinese national flags waved in front of the Schloss Charlottenburg. Many of those present might not realize that the German President and police view appealers completely differently than do Chinese officials.
"The President has to live with the sight of protesters"
On the eve of Hu Jintao's visit to Berlin, one of the most influential daily newspapers in Berlin, the Berliner Zeitung quoted Berlin Police spokesperson Michael Bengsch, "Simply because of the state's interests, we can not restrict on the rights of free expression. The (Chinese) President has to live with the sight of protesters."
When Hu Jintao's motorcade passed in or out of the Schloss Charlottenburg, they could clearly see Falun Gong practitioners' banners displayed on the roadside without any obstacles. Some people from the motorcade stared at the protesting crowds when they passed by. The highest banner that Falun Gong practitioners unfurled also expressed practitioners' message to the Chinese president, "Hu Jintao: The time that Heaven and the people give to you is limited."
Police Prove that Practitioners did not Violate any Regulations
Berlin's police must have made painstaking effort to arrange protesters' positions. Nearly ten people from Amnesty International unfurled a big banner that read, "For Human Rights - Right here right now." They were assigned to stand right opposite to the Schloss Charlottenburg. On their right-hand side were Falun Gong practitioners' four large banners. Some practitioners held in their hand small banners and signs depicting the torture methods used on fellow practitioners in Chin. Half of the Falun Gong practitioners were Chinese. On the left-hand side of the Amnesty International group was the cheering Chinese crowd waving red flags. The police separated the two groups containing Chinese people with great finesse.
The German police videotaped Falun Gong practitioners' hours-long activity from the beginning to the end. When the activity was about to conclude, a police officer told Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Lilge-Stodieck, "I understand that you may not be comfortable being videotaped for several hours, but do you know how many complaint phone calls we received from the Chinese delegation? They asked us to ban you from doing this and that. Therefore, we videotaped all you have done and when it's necessary, we can use it as an evidence to show that you did not violate any regulations."
Except for the group of "Chinese cheers and jeers," German President Koehler had a short conversation with two groups that were calling for human rights.
President Koehler Went Over to Shake Hands with Falun Gong Practitioners
Right after 3:00 p.m. on November 10, 2005, two or three luxury cars parked on the street that was already under martial law in front of the Schloss Charlottenburg. Four people emerged from the cars and walked across the street towards the protesters from Amnesty International. When they came closer, people clearly saw that the person who took the lead was German President Koehler. He came directly to the Amnesty International protesters and shook hands with them. He said that he would mention human rights issues when he met with Hu Jintao. His three guards stood several meters away behind him.
In front of the Schloss Charlottenburg, Falun Gong practitioners call on Hu Jintao to stop the persecution of Falun Gong |
When President Koehler turned around and walked a few steps, he suddenly heard a voice, "Mr. President, please come here too!" Tracking down the voice, President Koehler saw several Chinese banners and some westerners and easterners holding signs. He went over and asked while shaking hands with several petitioners, "Are you Falun Gong?" It was not hard to imagine that he could guess they were Falun Gong practitioners. When Chinese high-rank officials visit Germany, Falun Gong practitioners, banners and exercise demonstrations have never been absent from the media's reports. President Koehler told the practitioners that he would definitely raise Chin's human rights issues with Hu Jintao.
Everything is Normal
One incident shows that it's hard for westerners to understand the Chinese officials' sensitivity towards Falun Gong.
Practicing the Falun Gong exercises at the appeal site |
Ms.Chen from Denmark once passed by the backdoor of the Adlon Hotel before she encountered Hu Jintao's motorcade in the evening. She and four young ladies and one gentleman saw more than 10 Chinese officials coming out of a restaurant next to the hotel backdoor. When the leading official was about to get into a car and a hotel waiter was opening the door of the car, six Falun Gong practitioners shouted together to the Chinese officials, "Falun Dafa is great!" The more than ten Chinese officials were standing there in amazement for several seconds.
Later, the official who was about to enter the car turned around and went back into the restaurant. Other officials also followed him and went into the restaurant. The hotel waiter was left there holding the door of the car and was dumbstruck. He could not understand why the voice of several peaceful appealers, most of whom were young girls, could have such a big impact.
A policeman walked there slowly and asked what had happened. Practitioners said that they were telling the officials that Falun Dafa is great. The police officer nodded and told other officers who came over later, "They were greeting them." In other words, everything was normal.
Encountering Falun Gong practitioners Again Along the Route, Hu had No Response
Falun Gong practitioners hold 24-hour appeal outside the Adlon Hotel |
On November 11, the second day of Hu's visit to Berlin, Hu met with the current German Premier Schroeder and the next Premier Ms. Merkel, who will take the post on November 22. In the intermittent drizzle, some Falun Gong practitioners from Germany, France, Italy, Austri, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Switzerland and Holland held a 24-hour appeal outside the Adlon Hotel where Hu stayed.
Although the security was tight and stern, Hu Jintao still had several chances to personally hear Falun Gong practitioners' voices. Ms. Chen from Denmark related the experience of her and other practitioners accidentally encountering Hu Jintao's motorcade twice. At noon, when Ms. Chen and several practitioners went to a restaurant behind the hotel for lunch, they came across Hu Jintao, whose motorcade passed by them and went back to the hotel. The practitioners shouted together, "Falun Dafa is great!" Chinese people inside the cars all turned around and looked at them. Hu Jintao also turned around and glanced at them as the cars entered the hotel's back door.
Outside the Berlin City Hall, Hu Jintao shook hands with students who came to welcome him. A Falun Gong practitioner also went over and shook hands with him and asked him to immediately stop the persecution of Falun Gong. Accidentally, the western practitioner who had previously said "Falun Dafa is great" face to face to the chief perpetrator of the suppression of Falun Gong, then-Chinese President Jiang Zemin at the Adlon Hotel three years and six months earlier, also asked Hu Jintao to stop the persecution in the hotel lobby. Hu did not respond.
Chinese Official Pressure Fails - the German Police Continue to Learn about the Truth
On that evening, when Ms. Chen and her friends were looking for a dining place, suddenly, a good number of German police officers came to block the streets. Ms. Chen and other practitioners were relocated. Shortly after the Chinese delegation's motorcade passed by. Practitioners shouted together, "Falun Dafa is great!" "Hu Jintao, the time that heaven and the people give to you is limited." After the motorcade went by, pedestrians were allowed to cross the street, but the police officers smiled and did not allow practitioners to leave.
After a while, another motorcade arrived. This was Hu Jintao's motorcade. Practitioners continued to shout together. The police officer who did not allow practitioners to leave stood there and smiled. After this motorcade went by, practitioners left. Another police officer came over and asked what they were shouting and what Falun Gong was about. When practitioners told him about the Chinese communist regime's persecution of Falun Gong, he was shocked.
The Chinese Communist Regime's High Pressure in 2002 Turned into an Opportunity for Falun Gong Practitioners and German Police to Gain Mutual Understanding
In 2002, when the former leader of the Chinese Communist Party Jiang Zemin visited Germany, German police once restricted Falun Gong practitioners' freedoms of assembly, protest and expression under the Chinese officials' pressure. Later, the Berlin Ministry of Interior and police sent a written apology to Falun Gong practitioners. They also held a Falun Gong seminar for senior police officers and promised to communicate with practitioners in a timely manner before large-scale events. They would also send Chinese interpreters and commissioner to cooperate with Falun Gong practitioners. The bad incident due to the Chinese officials' pressure in 2002 turned out to be a good opportunity. Berlin police's trust and understanding about Falun Gong has been improving with constant mutual communications. This has laid a good foundation for the multiple visits from Chinese high-ranking officials.
Hu Jintao Visits Spain, Falun Gong Practitioners Demand an End to the Persecution
(Summary report by Minghui/Clearwisdom correspondent) Hu Jintao arrived in Madrid on November 13, 2005 to begin a two-day state visit. Falun Gong practitioners called for an end of the persecution of Falun Gong in Chin.
Practitioners hold banners and appeal outside the Chinese Embassy in Madrid |
The BBC reported on November 13 that this is Hu Jintao's first visit to Spain since he became the Chinese President. On his European trip, Hu has encountered many protests.
Last week during Hu's visits to Britain and Germany, human rights groups such as Amnesty International also held protests. In Madrid, Spain, Hu encountered more than 50 practitioners peacefully demonstrating when he arrived at Prime Minister Zapatero's Office. They held banners that read, "Bring the criminals to justice" and "Stop the persecution".
Several days ago, Falun Gong practitioners filed charges of genocide against a member of the Chinese government in Spain's high court. Petitioners plan to appeal outside the embassy next Monday.
Based on a statement from Amnesty International, tens of thousands of people are imprisoned in Chin and suffer from abuse and interrogation. Several thousand prisoners are sentenced to death without due legal process.
Amnesty International on Friday held a demonstration to protest Chin's human rights record during an upcoming state visit by President Hu Jintao.
"So far, the Spanish government seems to ignore the fact that China is one of the countries where the greatest human rights violations occur and where international treaties are violated, with executions, torture and mistreatment, arbitrary arrests, forced evictions, restrictions of freedom of expression and other serious abuses," Esteban Beltran, president of Amnesty's office in Spain, said in a statement.
Update on the Status of Falun Dafa Practitioners Arrested in Xiamen in December 2004
By a Mainland Falun Dafa practitioner
(Clearwisdom.net) On December 27, 2004, after 9 p.m., under the direction of the Xiamen 610 Office, police department chiefs of the Huli area, Siming area, Xiang'an area and other districts led several hundred policemen in groups of seven to carry out a frenetic raid of several dozen Falun Dafa practitioners' homes all over the city. They illegally confiscated computers, printers, CD burners, Dafa books and truth-clarification materials and illegally arrested the practitioners. Some practitioners suffered injuries during the arrests. Ms. Chen Xiuchong, who was in her 60's, died at her home that very evening as a result of the police action. The raid lasted three days. These illegal arrests were the most severe in the city since Jiang Zemin's regime started to persecute Falun Gong in 1999.
Imprisoned Falun Dafa practitioners included Ms. Ye Mi (about 40 years old, Xiamen University Fine Arts Department lecturer), Mr. Wu Shengxian (in his 20's, a graduate from the Xiamen University Automation Department), Mr. Chen Ronghui (in his 30's), Ms. Yu Aihua (about 50 years old), and Ms. Chen Caizhi (in her 40's).
The court illegally sentenced Yu Aihua to four years in prison earlier this year without informing her family members. Ms. Yu appealed, and later her sentence was changed to three and a half years. Recently it was learned that she was transferred to the Fuzhou Women's Prison from the detention centre. The entire process was carried out illegally and secretly. Ms. Yu's family members were told all of this only after they called the detention centre.
Ye Mi was put on an illegal trial in mid-June, and her family members told some of her colleagues from the university about this news. The teachers from the university broke through obstruction from the authorities to attend the hearing to support her. The defence attorney put in an innocent plea for Ms. Ye. The court could not produce any effective evidence and had to close the trial hastily. The Xiamen University teachers who attended the hearing jointly wrote a letter to the Provincial Education Committee to appeal on behalf of Ms. Ye and requested her release. However, the court falsely charged Ms. Ye with accepting economic aid from overseas, when in fact those were legitimate earnings from the sale of her paintings there. The court declared the nature of her case to be serious and not suitable for reaching a verdict, and said they may need to hand it over to a higher level.
Wu Shengxian and Chen Ronghui are still being secretly imprisoned; details await further investigation.
Chen Caizhi was released on bail while awaiting trial at the beginning of this year.
Holland: Practitioners Read Falun Dafa Association Announcement in front of the Chinese Embassy
By a practitioner from Holland
The Falun Dafa Association published an announcement on October 9, 2005, warning all those who assist the Chinese Communist regime to persecute Falun Gong, including officials in Chinese Embassies and Consulates, to stop doing evil. At 10:30 am on November 16, 2005, Falun Gong practitioners read the Falun Dafa Association Announcement in Chinese and English in front of the Chinese Embassy at the Hague in Holland.
The announcement states, "The persecution of persons based solely on their practice of the principles of "Truthfulness, Benevolence, and Forbearance" is unconscionable. At the beginning of this persecution, many high-ranking officials in the government and the CCP disagreed with Jiang's policy of persecution, or dealt with the persecution passively. Some even resisted. Many high-ranking officials also practiced Falun Gong. During the past six years, through peaceful resistance and a courageous degree of endurance, Falun Gong practitioners have clarified the truth to the people the world over. People who were previously deceived have awakened or are in the process of learning the facts. As a result, they have refused to join the persecution."
"At this critical historical moment, the Falun Dafa Association has made a special announcement: From today on, overseas Falun Gong practitioners will file civil or criminal lawsuits against all important government or CCP officials who participate in or continue to implement the persecution of Falun Gong and as a result, commit new crimes in addition to those they have already perpetrated against Falun Gong..."
The announcement also pointed out, "The CCP regime is against heaven's will, and is about to collapse. It is now having difficulty sustaining the persecution. Heaven's final judgment of these evil criminals is imminent. However, one of the purposes of the sacred FA of Falun Gong is to save people, including people in all social statuses. Even for those who have committed wrongdoings, there is still an opportunity for them to abandon the evil path and choose to be good. For all those who have committed crimes against Falun Gong but want now to correct their mistakes, they can submit, under safe circumstances, a guarantee statement or regret letter to Minghui (Clearwisdom Net) or to any regional Falun Dafa Association to be archived. We will not investigate the various crimes of those who are determined to correct their mistakes. However we will continue to monitor their actions."
During the process, people passing by and many who came into or out of the Embassy heard the announcement and accepted truth-clarification materials.
After reading the announcement, a practitioner put a copy of it into the Embassy's mailbox and hoped that the people in the Embassy would read it in person. When the practitioner delivered the announcement, a staff member from the Embassy rushed out to take pictures of practitioners and attempted to prevent practitioners from delivering the announcement. At this moment, a police officer who was standing on the side quickly came over and protected the practitioner and allowed him to smoothly insert the announcement into the Embassy's mailbox. In the end, the police officer shook hands with practitioners and wished them success
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