Tuesday, April 1, 2003
Falun Gong practitioners are filing lawsuits to document facts of the violations against basic human rights during Jiang Zemin's state visit in Germany in 2002.
Falun Gong practitioners of various nationalities are planning to file lawsuits during the coming days against the German states of Lower Saxonia, Brandenburg and Saxonia Proper. Their goal is to establish the facts of human rights violations against their persons during Jiang's visit in April 2002 in the hope that these lawsuits will prevent such acts in the future.
Experiencing persecution first-hand has shown these Falun Gong practitioners the importance of intervening against the ongoing human rights abuses against practitioners in China since 1999. These Falun Gong practitioners demonstrated the importance of intervention during Jiang's visit to Germany last year. Unfortunately, they were hindered in their efforts by German and Chinese security forces, who seemed to have worked together.
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Falun Gong representatives tried on numerous occasions to establish a dialogue with certain German Government entities on this issue. They tried to get clarity over the basic law-damaging behaviour that occurred in April of 2002 and requested assurances that these events would not happen again. Berlin Senator Dr. E. Koerting and an official from the Public Security Sector were ready to hold such a dialogue. A circulated document, issued by the Berlin Senate authorities dated December 20, 2002, puts the situation this way: ...The result of our investigations can be summed up in this manner, that the actions of the police, as far as can be clarified, are basically correct and according to law, but individual incidents show that restricting proximity by superfluous banning of certain locations and control of attire may have resulted in damage to the law. The police commissioner and I distinctly regret this. In the future, the police will be conscious of adhering to regulations regarding proximity [to dignitaries] during protests, particularly where Falun Gong practitioners are concerned, even during state visits and "Priority One" events.
Falun Gong practitioners have acknowledged this regret.
Representatives of the German Ministry of the Interior wrote to the Falun Gong practitioners in a letter dated October 24 2002, "basically, you have adhered to your registered gatherings and parades according to law during this state visit and have behaved peaceably and without disturbances," but they also declined any other attempts at further dialogue.
On March 13 2003, due to intervention by someone from the Berlin Senate, another opportunity for dialogue presented itself. Practitioners, their attorney, a police department manager and two of his colleagues participated in the discussion. Although the Bundes-Kriminalamt (German equivalent of the American FBI) did evaluate individual incidents during these protests, no clear conclusions could be drawn, which will result in another such lawsuit, this time against the German Ministry of the Interior.
The reasons these lawsuits are coming about in the first place go back to the unwillingness of representatives from the states of Saxonia, Brandenburg and Lower Saxonia to hold dialogues, in spite of many requests to do so. If it so happens that the authorities have a change of heart and show their willingness to discuss these matters, the plaintiffs will withdraw their suits.
Press Echo, in an article from April 2002, describes the situation thus: "Using the headline “The Perfect, undemocratic State Visit, among other things”. Maria Nix wrote in the Spiegel Online magazine (October 4 2002) about Jiang Zemin's visit to Berlin: 'these critical voices will not reach the ears of China's state president Jiang Zemin, although he is spending five days in Germany, because wherever he shows his face, the German officials are keeping protesters at bay.' Many other print presses agreed with this statement.
Human dignity and justice are precious foundations of any democratic system. They were put aside to appease a foreign guest of state. This is what these lawsuits deal with, to make this clear, and to avoid similar happenings in the future.
In the morning of April 3 2003, press conferences are planned in Berlin and Dresden, where the plaintiffs will be present accompanied by their attorneys. A press conference in Hanover will take place later on.
Background information:
Falun Dafa, also known as Falun Gong, is a peaceful meditation practice, originating in China and practised in 60 countries around the world. Along with the physical exercises, practitioners place great emphasis on living their lives according to Truthfulness, Compassion and Tolerance, principles that are cherished worldwide. Since the persecution began in China in 1999, at least 600 deaths of practitioners in police custody have been verified. Internal governmental sources put this number much higher, at around 1,600 deaths. Tens of thousand have been abducted, kidnapped and arrested, and more than 100,000 are suffering in forced labour camps, mostly without the benefit of proper legal procedures.
(Original text in German)
Chinese version available at http://www.yuanming.net/articles/200304/18980.html
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