RFI (Radio France Internationale): Practitioners Call On German Government to Press China to Release Lin Wenrong

On the morning of March 8 2003, RFI broadcast the following news in Chinese to residents in Mainland China and the Paris region:

“Ms. Lin Wenrong graduated from Wuhan Music College in Hubei Province and came to Germany for further studies. Recently, when she went back to China to visit her family, the police illegally arrested her because she practises Falun Gong. International Falun Gong Associations have launched a global SOS rescue effort to appeal for her release. Practitioners in Germany have appealed outside the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs, calling on the German government to press China to release Ms. Lin Wenrong. Regarding the case of Lin Wenrong, another Chinese lady, Ms. Zheng Zhihong, who is studying law in Germany, told RFI:

“We have just heard of the arrest of Lin Wenrong. We are very shocked by the news. She was arrested and sent to a forced brainwashing class just because she practises Falun Gong. Now we have more accurate information about her. She is detained in the Xiajiadian Labour Camp in Shiyan City, Hubei Province. The labour camp was specifically set up for persecuting Falun Gong practitioners. Practitioners are sent to the class for mental “re-education,” which in fact, is a forced brainwashing class. There practitioners are subjected to mental persecution or even torturing. After hearing the news, practitioners in Germany and other countries around the world are urgently calling for her immediate release.”

“The city government in Dusseldorf, where Lin Wenrong was studying, is showing serious concern for her case. They are trying every possible means to impose pressure on China to release Ms. Lin Wenrong. We have informed Amnesty International of the detention of Lin Wenrong, and they have submitted the case to their headquarters in London, which is conducting an investigation into the case of Lin Wenrong.”

“We have also wrote an appeal letter to the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Recently a human rights official in the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs also met three Falun Gong practitioners. The practitioners handed him an appeal letter for the German Foreign Minister. The official told the practitioners that the German Embassy in China is investigating the case. Later, we also called the German Embassy in China whose staff promised us that they would try their best in obtaining Lin Wenrong’s release. Through diplomatic channels, they will pressure China to immediately release Ms. Lin Wenrong.”

Chinese version available at http://www.yuanming.net/articles/200303/18111.html