Benxi, China and Frankfurt, Germany - April 13th 2005: On Saturday April 9th 2005, Mr. Jiang Renzheng, who was deported from Germany on March 7th, was taken to a forced labour camp in Benxi, which is located close to the large urban centre of Shenyang. He had been sentenced to three years of re-education by forced labour because of “endangering public security”. This happened without a trial or legal counsel. The International Society for Human Rights reports that even in today’s People’s Republic of China, people are still being imprisoned in the Laogai labour camp system without the benefit of a proper legal system.
Twenty-three year old Renzheng Jiang was deported to his native country on March 7th 2005 after a journey of many years through Germany and Norway. The German authorities judged his Falun Gong practice, which is a meditation technique related to Buddhism, to be a pretence and rejected his asylum application. IGFM, whose headquarters are in Frankfurt, demanded the immediate and unconditional release of the Falun Gong practitioner who is now incarcerated in China because of his spiritual beliefs. At the same time, the organisation has asked Chancellor Gerhard Schröder to demand an end to the persecution of Falun Gong in China.
On July 20th1999, former Chinese President Jiang Zemin prohibited the practice of Falun Gong, a meditative technique that originated in China. Since then, the followers of the peaceful practice have suffered from state-sponsored terrorism directed against them. Its victims experience loss of work and home, loss of education, forced abortion and divorces, re-education, forced labour, humiliation and torture. We can verify the names of 1583 people who were brutally killed in police stations, forced labour camps, or psychiatric hospitals, although the true number is probably much higher.
“Official” help from the German authorities?
The secret service of the People’s Republic spies even on Chinese practising Falun Gong abroad and they run great risks of falling victim to the persecution whenever they are forcibly returned to their home country. This is exactly what happened to Mr. Renzheng and his family.
Ten days after his return to China, two senior level state security agents, Mr. Yu and Mr. Yuan paid him a visit at his parents’ home and interrogated him for several hours until the early morning of the following day. The officers informed him that German authorities had provided them with detailed information about Jiang Renzheng’s asylum application. Jiang’s father, who attended the interrogation, suffered a mental breakdown; he now has a hard time thinking clearly and sometimes no longer recognises his own relatives.
Further lengthy interrogations occurred over the ensuing weeks. The pinnacle of the persecution was reached when he was confined to a forced labour camp in the city of Benxi. According to IGFM sources, all detainees at the forced labour camp are threatened with brainwashing and physical torture.
The International Society for Human Rights IGFM) – German Division, Inc.
Borsigallee 9, 60388 Frankfurt/Main
Tel.: 0 69 / 42 01 08-0, Fax: 069/42 01 08-34
E-Mail: [email protected], http://www.igfm.de
Translated from German at http://www.clearharmony.de/articles/200504/23447.html
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