Speech from Chairman of the European Falun Dafa Association on April 25

On April 25 1999, Falun Gong emerged on the international radar screen. Over 10,000 Falun Gong practitioners gathered that day in Beijing in hope that the Chinese Central Government would not escalate the persecution against them. They asked for a fair and relaxed environment, and an end to abuses and slander against the meditation practice.

Over the past four years, however, this peaceful appeal has often been mistakenly cited as the reason for the official banning of the practice three months later. Meanwhile, an outpouring of propaganda from China portraying the gathering as a “siege” that shocked the leadership has added to the confusion. Given that the group of pacifists was unarmed, and that video footage shows the road, entrance and exit ways, and even the path for the blind left unobstructed, Jiang’s rhetoric of a “siege” is silly. Moreover, being “shocked” at the sight of a medium-size protest in China compares with the freedom in countries like the U.S., where larger protests take place almost every weekend. It also disregards China’s own tradition of large-scale protests. Jiang’s regime wanted to crackdown, so it used the appeal as an excuse.

The SARS tragedy demonstrates the Chinese regime’s willingness to lie and spread propaganda for its own self-interest, even when the lives of millions are at stake. For almost four years, we have witnessed this regime severely persecute Falun Gong and then lie and spread propaganda to the world to cover it up. It’s the same pattern, and it poses an extraordinary threat not just to China but also to the world.

Jiang Zemin’s regime manufactured laws to retroactively legalise the campaign against Falun Gong, while at the same time it manufactured stories to demonise the practice. In spite of the vast propaganda campaign, convincing evidence to justify the campaign has yet to be seen, while hard evidence of State-sponsored torture has been met with blanket denials. Jiang hoped to align his power by redirecting mounting public frustration towards an innocent and peaceful group. He set up “6-10 Office”, a plain-clothed police force to eliminate Falun Gong, placing Luo Gan at its head. Four years of top-down persecution have left numerous families torn apart, an untold number of torture and murder victims, and Jiang Zemin facing international lawsuits for crimes against humanity and genocide.

In Chicago a lawsuit is now taking place that shows the world the genocide that is taking place in China. It is also intended to encourage more people to help end the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners. The defendant is Jiang Zemin, former president of China, who stepped down in March 2003, and the "610 Office" – the Chinese Government Department specially created to persecute Falun Gong practitioners.

The Falun Gong practitioners who have lived in China in the past, or are currently living in China, and who were subjected to torture, genocide, and other major human rights abuses, together with their immediately affected family members are the plaintiffs. Other plaintiffs also include U.S. citizens who were subjected to discrimination via the “blacklist” during Jiang’s visit to Iceland in June 2002.

This lawsuit was submitted to the court on October 18 2002. It was served on Jiang Zemin on October 22 while he was in Chicago during his visit to the U.S. Since then Jiang and the Chinese government have been publicly denying the existence of this case. But there has already been media coverage about this case.

The aim of this case is to obtain a judgement against Jiang Zemin for genocide and also a judgement against the “610 office” for genocide and torture and crimes against humanity. This would certainly send a signal to China that the persecution should stop. The defendants would also be subjected to monetary damages of up to $1.7 billion and their travel in the United States would be more restricted.

We hope that the media, Government and people throughout the world will help to end the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners so that this largest modern-day atrocity in China is highlighted.