Cyprus: Some Stories about Suing Wu Guanzheng

On October the 27th, practitioners from Great Britain, Sweden, Switzerland, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Greece and Australia filed a joint lawsuit at a Cypriot court against Wu Guanzheng [the former provincial secretary of the Chinese Communist Party in Shandong Province], who was visiting Cyprus at the time. Thanks to the joint efforts of fellow practitioners, the preparation work was completed within a very short time. The indictment was submitted to the court on the same day as Wu arrived in Cyprus. A press conference was then held to publicise the facts about the persecution of Falun Gong to the people of Cyprus via the media.

Because nearly all of the practitioners from other countries didn’t arrive in Cyprus until the Friday morning, it seemed impossible to obtain Wu’s schedule, to contact the media and to search for a lawyer to indict Wu within one day. With righteous thoughts and actions however, practitioners cooperated with one another. These seemingly impossible tasks were thoroughly accomplished by Friday evening.

A group of practitioners went to Limassol city (in southern Cyprus), the first stop on Wu’s visit. They found the hotel where Wu was to stay wearing yellow Falun Dafa T-shirt. When Wu reached the entrance of the hotel, he saw several female practitioners wearing the yellow T-shirts. Wu’s entourage complained and applied pressure to the local police immediately. However, the practitioners recognised this as an opportunity to clarify the facts. Practitioners’ truth clarification led to the police changing their attitudes and during the process, some policemen asked what the words on the yellow T-shirt meant. Later, some policemen even expressed and interest in learning Falun Dafa.

Another group of practitioners found a lawyer to file the lawsuit against Wu Guanzheng on Monday after a long conversation with him. At the same time, the practitioners who stayed at home prepared the documentation needed for the lawsuit. All information associated with the lawsuit was sent to the media. By the Sunday night everything was in place.

On Monday morning, a couple of western practitioner’s were waiting for a taxi in front of the Hilton Hotel where Wu was staying. Wu walked out of the hotel, and came straight towards them. The couple nodded to him, and said, “Falun Dafa is good!” Soon afterwards, many members of the Chinese delegation came from another direction. The couple nodded to each of them, and told them, “Falun Dafa is good.”

Practitioners later went to the Presidential Palace to protest against Wu’s state visit. While making a phone call, a practitioner noticed that the payphone booth was located right beside the driveway of Wu’s motorcade. This practitioner opened and displayed a banner, which read “Truthfulness-Benevolence-Forbearance” when Wu’s motorcade was passing by.

Afterwards, practitioners gathered in front of the parliament building. Some practitioners held and displayed the banners while others sat in meditation. The officials at the Chinese Embassy appeared to be intimidated. They approached the police and expressed their dissatisfaction several times. However, the police totally ignored their complaints. A western practitioner happened to be at the front door of the parliament when Wu got out of the car. The practitioner walked towards him, and said “Falun Dafa is good!” With a confused expression on his face, Wu didn’t know how to react.

At around 11 am, five TV stations interviewed practitioners in front of the parliament building. The Cypriot National TV Station broadcast a 15-minute-long interview in its evening programme. At 1 pm, the lawyer and practitioners held a press conference in front of the parliament building. The lawyer stated that “The crucial point that we want to emphasise to the Chinese government through this lawsuit is that the whole world knows and is watching what is going on in China. The Chinese authorities will need to pay for what they do.” At the press conference on the following day, all four major newspapers in Cyprus covered the event.

Owing to pressure from the Chinese delegation on the President of Cyprus, the President ordered the police to stop the clerk who was delivering the subpoena to the defendant. However, the lawsuit has been successfully filed for further investigation. If Wu is to visit Cyprus again in the future, he will be prosecuted according to the Cypriot law.

The trip to Cyprus has demonstrated to all those participating the power of righteous thoughts and actions as well as the importance of coordinating as one body. Righteous thoughts and actions together with the coordination as one entity also represents the FA rectification requirements that Dafa practitioners need to fulfill.