Dafa Practitioners from Many European Countries Alert Public Attention to the Persecution of Falun Gong on the International Day to Support Torture Victims

June 26th was the United Nations International Day to Support Torture Victims. To remind people once again of the persecution that Falun Gong practitioners are subject to in China, both pictorial and live exhibitions were held by practitioners from countries in Northern and Central Europe to show various types of torture taking place in prisons and labour camps in China.

According to a report by The Epoch Times, at the moment prisons in China are full and the government is therefore busy putting up installations and in a rush to build and extend prisons. Numerous innocent people have been imprisoned for their beliefs and news about deaths due to the persecution come out every week. It was reported that at least eight practitioners died in June, including Mr. Zhang Jianhua, who was persecuted to death on the static bed - one of the torture tools in Jilin prison. Thirty-two year old Liu Xiaodong died in Beian City prison in Heilongjiang; Wang jinzhong died in Shenyang Tiexi detention house on June 14th; Wang Juan from Hebei died in Mancheng town prison of Baoding City; Bi Guohua from Shandong died on the spot when 610 officers broke into his home to arrest him; Wang Shujun from Hebei was tortured to death in Handan City brainwashing class on June 20th, he was only thirty-six years old when he died.

Agence France-Presse and the BBC reported on June 17th that Theo van Boven, an expert on torture from the UN, was supposed to go to China and conduct investigations into its different departments at the end of this month. However, the date of his visit was delayed due to the Chinese regime’s claims that more time was needed for preparation as well as that the officials were on holiday.

Mr. Theo van Boven passed an annual statement to the UN Human Right Committee in March this year. The statement included the 420 page edited short reports about torture and ill-treatment, gathering information on torture from 115 countries around the world. The report about China was the longest, recording over 130 ill-treatment cases, in which over 100 cases were related to Falun Gong practitioners. This statement was formally published on March 23rd, 2004.