United States: Los Angeles Practitioners Gather in Front of Chinese Consulate to Appeal for the Rescue of Charles Li and Support the Lawsuit against Jiang

At 12:30 p.m. on June 9, 2003, dozens of local Falun Gong practitioners held a press conference in front of the Chinese Consulate General regarding the situation of American citizen and Falun Gong practitioner Dr. Charles Li. Dr. Li lived in San Francisco and was illegally sentenced to three years in prison in China for his beliefs. The practitioners gathered to call upon the American government and people from all walks of life to extend a helping hand to secure the release of Dr. Charles Li. The practitioners also introduced the information about the current lawsuit against former Chinese leader Jiang for the crime of genocide, and called upon all Chinese people to support this lawsuit.

Press conference	A practitioner gives a speech

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According to a Falun Gong practitioner and PhD student at the University of Southern California Ye Ke, Dr. Charles Li was illegally arrested on January 22 by Chinese authorities at Baiyun Airport, Guangzhou City. On March 21, the Chinese authorities conducted a show trial against him. On May 15, Charles' fiancée was informed that his appeal was rejected, and he was imprisoned in Nanjing Prison in Jiangsu Province. Charles has not been allowed to contact his family or make phone calls to his fiancée.

A few days ago, Charles' fiancée in the US was informed by a US Consulate official in Shanghai that Charles Li began a hunger strike on the evening of May 27 in Nanjing Prison to protest his illegal detention, the Chinese government' persecution of Falun Gong practitioners and Nanjing Prison officers and Yangzhou City officials, who confiscated his Falun Gong books and Falun Gong related articles his fiancée asked the US Consulate officials to transfer to him. He also protested to the authorities for removing eight pages from his 95-page affidavit to the US Consulate officials. The pages are related to the lawsuit against former Chinese president Jiang. On May 31, Charles Li was force-fed. With his persistent requests, the prison authorities returned the confiscated documents to the US Consulate. Charles Li stopped his hunger strike on June 3.

The documents showed that Charles Li was subjected to different forms of persecution during his detention, including beatings, 72-hour sleep deprivation, and 130-hours of being handcuffed. The authorities also forced him to watch videos defaming Falun Gong in an attempt to force him to renounce Falun Gong. Charles Li wrote in his letter that because he clarified the truth about persecution of Falun Gong to relevant personnel who handled his case, and developed a good relationship with them, they unintentionally disclosed some information about the decision-making details related to his case: the authorities once thought of charging him with the "crime" of spreading the facts about Falun Gong, but because he is an American citizen, any charges related to Falun Gong have to do with freedom of belief, the authorities felt that it would be hard to handle. That is why they finally decided to avoid the "crime" related to Falun Gong, but charged him with "preparing to sabotage the TV broadcast system." The legal system in China is merely a tool used to persecute innocent people; there is no any justice and objectivity.

Falun Gong practitioner Professor Wu Yingnian from the University of California Los Angeles branch school pointed out that the Chinese authorities charged Dr Charles Li with "preparing" tapping into cable TV networks. Obviously, what Dr. Charles was "preparing" to do was to expose Jiang regime' brutal persecution, torture and murder of innocent people, and these facts have been covered up by Jiang regime. What Dr. Charles Li wanted to do is the same in nature as what Dr. Jiang Yongyan did in exposing the Chinese government' cover-up of the SARS epidemic. Moreover, Dr Charles Li intended to expose a political plague that is even more vicious, namely, Jiang regime' tyranny that kills innocent people at will. It not only harms Falun Gong practitioners but also threatens all Chinese people.

Professor Wu also expressed his deep concern for Dr. Charles Li' safety, and demanded the Chinese government to immediately release innocent Dr. Charles Li, and called upon the American government and people including overseas Chinese in the US to join together to secure the release of Charles Li.

Professor Wu then presented the information about the genocide lawsuit against the Chinese dictator Jiang to the public. He said that the persecution of Falun Gong launched by Jiang four years ago has resulted in the confirmed tortured death of at least 720 innocent Falun Gong practitioners. The "610 Office" system Jiang established and consumed massive state funds to conduct brutal persecution against hundreds of thousands Falun Gong practitioners all over the country. Jiang is being sued by Falun Gong practitioners in the US district court in Illinois. On May 29, 2003, Illinois State Representative Arthur Turner and Mike Boland jointly initiated a letter to the Illinois state legislature, urging the American government to support Falun Gong practitioners for the lawsuit against Jiang. Eighty members of Illinois State Assembly have co-signed the letter.

Professor Wu also pointed out that Jiang absolutely does not represent China, nor could he represent the Chinese people. Jiang and his accomplices are criminals who kill innocent people, and the trial against Jiang is to safeguard justice, and to uphold the rights and interests of all Chinese people including Falun Gong practitioners. He called upon all people with a sense of justice and all Chinese people to support Falun Gong practitioners in the lawsuit against Jiang.