Germany: Falun Gong Practitioners’ Banner Reading “Bring Jiang Zemin to Justice” Draws Attention during Wen Jiabao’s Visit

During Premier Wen Jiabao’s visit to Berlin, Falun Gong practitioners unfurled banners that read, “Welcome Wen Jiabao” and “Bring Jiang Zemin to Justice”. However the Chinese delegation requested to remove the banner reading “Bring Jiang Zemin to Justice”, saying that to “bring Jiang to justice” is to sentence him to death. German psychiatrists said this indicated that those who participated in the persecution and those who protected the participants are very clear about the consequence of their actions in terms of international law.

Radio Free Asia reported on May the 5th, that on the morning of May the 5th, the Chinese Premier concluded his state visit to Germany and left for Brussels, the capital of the European Union. Over the more than 2 days of Premier Wen Jiabao’s visit to Berlin, the Chinese delegation and diplomats exerted pressure on German police regarding Falun Gong practitioners and the slogans displayed by demonstrators. They requested that the banners were removed. This made the German police feel confused and baffled.

Regarding this issue, a reporter interviewed person concerned. The report quoted Ms. Zheng Zhihong, a scholar in the field of Chinese law who came from China’s Zhejiang University, who said, “After our activities began, the German police received protest from the Chinese delegation, who said that banners reading ‘Expel human rights criminal Bo Xilai’ insulted the Chinese delegation’s reputation. After listening to Falun Gong practitioners’ explanation, the police did not consider it as an insult but instead, they think it simply states a fact.”

The report said that after the Chinese delegation’s first protest, they then went on to demand that the slogan, “Bring Jiang Zemin to Justice” be removed. Ms. Zheng said, “German police said that the German translation of this slogan they saw stated to use law to punish Jiang and they did not consider this to be an insult to the Chinese delegation’s reputation. The Chinese delegation brought their interpreter and said that the phrase “bring to justice” in Chinese had a meaning to ‘sentence someone to death’. The German police thus brought an independent interpreter to the place where we held the appeal. During the process of negotiation, the interpreter told us that he personally considered the Chinese version of ‘Bring Jiang to justice’ and its German translation were completely consistent.”

The report said in the end that the Chinese delegation insisted that the phrase ‘bring to justice’ contains a meaning of ‘sentence to death’. This confused not only the interpreters from the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs but also Chinese people on the spot. A German psychiatrist who participated in the event explained that this is a typical mentality induced by psychological suggestion. It indicated that those who participated in the persecution and those who protected the participants were very clear about the consequence of their persecuting actions in terms of international law.