Article from Swiss Newspaper Genève Home Informations: “Beyond suffering …”

The Maison du Grütli is hosting a remarkable exhibition until 22nd April exposing the many forms of abuse that Falun Gong practitioners in China are subjected to by the Chinese authorities. This exhibition is organized by Falun Gong members, who have seized the opportunity of the sixty first session of the United Nations Human Rights Commission now being held in Geneva as a reminder of their struggle against crimes to which they are victim – parents and children alike – in China.

Their efforts have had repercussions in Geneva. In March 2003, Mr. Philippe Grant, a barrister from Geneva, announced his decision to take Jiang Zemin, Chinese President at that time, to court for Genocide, Torture and other Crimes Against Humanity. In mid-April 2004, eight additional lawyers from Geneva filed six criminal lawsuits and a denunciation to the Public Prosecutors of the canton of Geneva and of the Confederation for Incitement to Hatred, Crimes of Torture and Genocide against Wang Yusheng, deputy director and secretary-general of an association responsible for these crimes in China.

This exhibition is entitled “Beyond suffering is courage and grace”. It is composed of very striking works and sketches evoking the different forms of torture to which Falun Gong practitioners in China are victim. Certain pictures, very grim, are reminiscent of those seen in Hiroshima’s museum of souvenirs in Japan, where many visitors do not finish their visit without feeling bad at what has been presented to them.

The works to be seen at the Maison du Grütli heighten awareness of the horror and agony of the repression against so many practitioners of the Falun Gong movement in China. The exhibition allows us to grasp the extent of the repression that the organizers of this exhibition wish to make known to the public as a backcloth to this important meeting of the United Nations, which likes to think of itself as acknowledging what we simply call human rights.