Speech by “The Society of Threatened People” at a Rally in Germany

On Saturday March the 6th, Falun Gong practitioners in Karlsruhe and the surrounding cities held a rally at the Market Square in Karlsruhe city to inform people the latest progress about the criminal indictment case filed to the German Federal Procuratorate in Karlsruhe against the former China President Jiang and his accomplices. The practitioners also collected signatures to support this lawsuit. Many NGOs gave a speech to express their support. The following is the speech made by a human rights organisation called “The Society of Threatened People”:

Dear ladies and gentlemen! Dear friends!

Freedom of religion for all citizens is granted in Article 36 of the Chinese constitution. Furthermore, numerous Chinese laws affirm that no one may be disadvantaged because of his or her religious orientation. Unfortunately the reality bears witness to just the opposite. It is widely known that Tibetan Buddhists, Muslim Uighurs, Catholics and Protestants suffer from relentless suppression. The Society of Threatened Peoples is deeply alarmed with the continued escalating suppression of the spiritual practice Falun Gong. No other denomination suffers such severe attacks as Falun Gong.

Over the four years of repression, at least 880 adherents of this spiritual group have died in prisons, labour camps or police stations from torture. One is informed weekly of an increased number of deaths. Torture is a daily ritual in Chinese police stations and prisons. Please believe us that these are not abuses attributable to a few individuals, but a systematic suppression of Falun Gong by the Chinese Communist Party and the country’s leadership. This is no secret, as the country and party’s leadership stressed repeatedly that Falun Gong had to be eliminated.

The German Republic and other European states have been active over the past few years in the establishment of an international court of law, which addresses gross abuses, that is, to assure that continued and grave human rights violations receive punishment. With respect to China, this international court of law could not be affected, as the People’s Republic of China does not recognise the edict of this court of law. Therefore, it is even more important today that present and former Chinese dignitaries are held accountable worldwide, with respect to human rights violations in China, through legal channels.

During the April 2002 visit of the former Chinese President, Jiang Zemin, in Germany, we filed a complaint with the Chief Federal Prosecutor against this state visitor for violations of anti-torture conventions. Although China has ratified human rights conventions under international law, which states clearly that it won’t tolerate torture on its land, torture is a daily ritual in Chinese prisons and police stations. Our complaint was at that time denied on grounds of Jiang being a state visitor. For such a reason he was deemed untouchable by Germany’s courts of law. We are certain that Jiang Zemin and other prominent dignitaries of the Chinese leadership are responsible for the inordinate amount of deaths of Falun Gong practitioners. Therefore, we are especially pleased that a coalition of international human rights organisations has set in motion the means to bring the guilty to justice.