Article from German Newspaper Prima Sonntag: The Consequences of an Undemocratic State Visit - A Wuerzburg City Resident Sues Sachsen State

On 9th April 2002, the former president of China Jiang Zemin met the German Premier at the start of his visit to Germany. On that day, all Asian people or people wearing yellow were not allowed anywhere near the vicinity of the Hotel Adlon in Berlin, where the state guest stayed. Later, the same situation happened in the East German cities of Potsdam and Dresden, where Jiang’s continued his visit. During these few days, under the direction of this Asian President collaborating with the German police, what usually happens in China happened in the democratic state of Germany. A Berlin mother and her child were not allowed to go past the Hotel Adlon but were instead forced to make a detour, solely because she wore a yellow scarf. Fourteen people are suing Niedersachsen, Brandenburg and Sachsen authorities for violating citizens’ basic rights, including Jing Tang-Wiesberg, a native Chinese with German nationality who lives in Veitshöchheim.

Has Democracy been Abolished?

On 10th April 2002, Jing Tang-Wiesberg walked in front of the Palace Sanssouci in Potsdam, where Jiang was scheduled to pass. A Chinese, probably a policeman or a secret agent, asked her whether she was a reporter. After she said “no” she was told to leave the area. “He raised his voice and attracted the attention of a German policeman, who forced me to leave there,” said Jing. But other Chinese people were allowed to stay there. Jing, along with two other Falun Gong practitioners, wanted to rouse people’s concern about Falun Gong in front of Dresden’s Hotel Kempinski on 11th April during Jiang’s visit. “We stood 200 metres away from the hotel, which was not part of the prohibited area. Because we wore yellow T-shirts reading “Falun Dafa” and “Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance”, three German policemen ordered us to leave that place. They accompanied us to a place around 100 metres away, and we stayed there until Jiang was about to leave the hotel. One policeman said if we went forward even one step, he would arrest us. Our Falun Gong books and banners were confiscated. In a democratic country, my basic rights were violated,” Jing said.

Police did not intervene against the aggressors

In addition, a particularly serious event happened in Dresden: when the Chinese President’s car passed Hotel Kempinski, a woman among the spectators shouted “Falun Dafa is good!” A Chinese secret policeman rushed at her and grabbed her by the throat. The German police did nothing to stop the aggressor; instead, they dragged the woman away. This should be sincerely considered because the police themselves should have stopped the aggressor, not the peaceful woman. Dr. Frank Selbmann, a lawyer from Leipzig, is the advocate for Jing Tang-Wiesberg and the other thirteen plaintiffs, whose individual basic rights were violated. They are suing the policemen for violating their basic rights as German citizens.

The Chinese leader could not hear the voices criticising the Chinese government’s human rights violations. The related German authorities, pressured by the Chinese government, kept all voices of criticism far away from the state guest. This happened to many people during Jiang’s visit to Germany merely because they were thought to be demonstrators or Falun Gong practitioners. Waltraud Ng, spokeswoman of the German Falun Gong Information Centre said, “From the talks with the police, we knew that Jiang exerted great pressure on Germany over security and protection. Human dignity and justice are the foundations of democracy, but they were trampled on during the visit of a state guest.”

The USA sues Jiang Zemin

Jiang Zemin, stepping down from his previous position in March 2003, was charged in the United States with being responsible for violating the human rights of the Chinese people. The plaintiffs are American and Chinese Falun Gong practitioners. The attorney for the plaintiffs submitted evidence of the Chinese dictator’s crimes of torture and genocide to the Illinois district court. The court is examining this evidence at the moment. Meanwhile, some European countries have also brought cases to court. Amnesty international has supported the plaintiffs in the criminal complaint against Jiang Zemin. The lawsuit obviously alarmed the Chinese authorities. “Jiang Zemin is ready to pay any price in order to prevent this trial from proceeding,” said the Falun Gong Information Centre in Germany. Jiang Zemin is still the chairman of the military commission in China.

The persecuted meditation cultivation practice

Falun Gong is a meditation cultivation practice that originates from China. It is practised in over sixty countries worldwide. Besides practising exercises, practitioners are required to live by the principles of Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance.

Translated from Chinese at http://www.yuanming.net/articles/200308/22935.html