On the 14th of September 2004, the Finnish daily newspaper Vasabladet published the following article about Falun Gong and the persecution against practitioners in China. The original article was in Finnish.
By Lisa Ronn
In China, the movement is forbidden and seventy million practitioners are being persecuted. Finland is one of the countries that have filed lawsuits against the former regime for torture.
Falun Gong is not the only one to be persecuted in China. It is as brutal as the persecution of other minorities in China and in some other countries with bad human rights. (According to FN and Amnesty International)
Pia-Maria Sandas gives the worldwide practice of Falun Gong a face on the Finnish west coast. Her roots are here, but she currently lives in Spain. She is well-travelled, and has experienced the consequences of the genocide in China through close friends.
“Little Fadu was only nine months old when her father was tortured to death”, she says while showing photos of the little four year old together with her mother, Pia-Maria’s friend Jane Zhizhen Dai.
Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, was introduced in China in 1992 by Master Li Hongzhi. It is a traditional meditation practice that consists of five sets of exercises. According to the practitioners, the exercises promote good health and develop the body, the mind and the spirit. This process is called cultivation.
Falun Gong is practised in over fifty countries. As there are no membership registers, there is no precise information on how many practitioners there are. Between the years 1992 and 1999, the movement grew explosively and has received many recognitions and awards throughout the years.
In 1999, the former leader Jiang Zemin investigated how many practitioners there were in China and the results showed them to be over seventy million.
The movement was immediately prohibited and banned. Zemin was able to put the ban into action even though he was the only one in the government who voted for it. Despite much accessible information and propaganda, a valid motivation for why has not been found.
”I assume it is not in a dictator’s interest for the human being to achieve balance”, is Pia-Maria’s conclusion after a lot of reasoning.
Zemin founded the 610 Office that is managing the persecution against Falun Gong. In reports, the 610 Office is described as the Chinese Gestapo. According to lawsuits and personal accounts, the 610 Office is using methods such as mistreatment, rape, incarceration and torture.
“Falun Gong is freely practised and honoured all over the world. It is only forbidden in the country known for having the worst human rights in the world”, Pia-Maria explains.
From the year 2001 to January 20th of 2004, sixteen countries have sued Jiang Zemin and some of his cohorts for genocide and torture in the persecution of Falun Gong in China. Finland is one of them.
Lawyer Erkki Kannisto is in charge of the lawsuit against Luo Gan, member of the Chinese Communist Party’s Politbureau and one of the main figures in the persecution of Falun Gong.
”My judgment is that the persecution of the practitioners of Falun Gong in China is truly taking place”, Kannisto says.
“It is a threat to human rights and all the world should help in putting pressure on the Chinese Government”.
After Kannisto filed the lawsuit at the end of last year, the police started an investigation of Luo Gan’s participation in the persecution…
”I do not work as a lawyer any longer, but I truly hope that someone else in Finland will take over this matter”, Kannisto says.
When and if the trials against Luo Gan, Jiang Zemin and others suspected of this genocide will start is an open question that millions of practitioners and critics all over the world are waiting to get the answer to.
Facts about Falun Gong
- Falun Gong is a traditional meditation and cultivation method that includes five exercises;
- Master Li Hongzhi introduced the practice in 1992 and tells his disciples to cultivate to higher levels through the exercises and practice;
- Mr Hongzhi encourages his disciples to follow the principles Truthfulness, Compassion and Tolerance;
- Today Falun Gong is practised in over fifty countries. The practitioners often meet in parks and open spaces;
- In China, the country of its origin, the movement has been forbidden since 1999 but the practitioners continue to practise Falun Gong. According to reports, the practitioners are persecuted and tortured by a certain office [the 6-10 Office].
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| Picture published in the Vasabladet newspaper article |
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