Extract from Dutch Radio Station Report: Falun Gong Practitioners Sue Jiang Zemin for Genocide

Wereldomroep, 7th December 2004: Adherents of Falun Gong in The Netherlands have filed a legal complaint against the Chinese leader Jiang Zemin for torture and genocide. In twenty seven countries similar cases have been started as well. Falun Gong accuses the Chinese leaders of exerting systematic terror with the aim to completely eliminate the movement.

“Members of the Falun Gong movement in China are not secure with their lives”, says Peter Houben, Chairman of the Dutch Falun Gong Association. “They are being beaten and raped, force fed and electro-shocked, locked up in too small spaces and injected with mind-altering and nerve-damaging drugs”.
According to Houben, Jiang Zemin, who stood down last year, is the brain behind the persecution. He altered the law for that purpose and established the Gestapo-like ‘6-10 Office’, with the aim of eliminating Falun Gong. This systematic way of eradicating the movement can be qualified as genocide according to the lawyer for the Dutch Falun Gong Association. Confirmation and documentation are available for about 1200 cases of Falun Gong practitioners who have been tortured to death by Chinese authorities.

Dutch Victims

A legal complaint filed in The Netherlands against Jiang Zemin is possible because two Dutchmen have been victims as well. They travelled to Beijing to protest the suppression of Falun Gong, but were arrested on arrival and violently interrogated, with some serious kicks and punches. Based on this abuse, it’s now possible to start a legal case for genocide and torture against the Chinese leaders.

In China, there are about 70 million adherents of Falun Gong, whereas The Netherlands has about fifty. According to Peter Houben it could be more, because not everyone is known within the movement. “It’s very well possible that people became Falun Gong practitioners by informing themselves about the movement over the internet.”

Refining of Mind and Body

Houben calls Falun Gong a cultivation practice, which means the refinement of mind and body to bring them to a higher level. This is done by practicing five physical exercises on a daily basis and following a moral teaching based on the basic principles Truthfulness, Compassion and Forbearance.

Professor Barend ter Haar of the Sinological Institute of the University of Leiden confirms the persecution and torture of Falun Gong members in China. […] The consequence is that many people in China have given up the practice of Falun Gong, whereas abroad it has in fact become stronger.

Bad Karma

Officially, the Chinese government persecutes Falun Gong because the movement forms a threat to the people’s health. One of the reasons is that adherents are not stimulated to see a doctor, because disease would be caused by bad karma. Ter Haar: “But the real reason is of course that Falun Gong poses a threat to the exclusive power of the communist party, which pretends to own the absolute truth. Falun Gong doesn’t see itself as a political movement, but does pose a threat to the Communist Party because they offer a different truth.”