Indonesian Authorities: Do Not Go Down in History as an Accomplice to the CCP

At 11:00 a.m. on May 9th, 2005, Jakarta's South District Subordinate Court of Indonesia held another trial against six Falun Gong practitioners.

On May 6th, 2005, Indonesian practitioners called on the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) to stop the cruel persecution of Falun Gong practitioners. They stood in the broad space across the street from Jakarta's Chinese Embassy. With two banners, they held a peaceful and reasonable appeal for about 15 minutes. During the appeal, the atmosphere was tranquil and calm. They did not speak loudly or shout any slogans. At the end of the activity, when all the practitioners had walked 20-30 meters away, a group of policemen suddenly chased them down and carried practitioners in yellow T-shirts to the police car.

In this situation, we felt like the Chinese practitioners who were illegally arrested for peacefully appealing for Falun Dafa at Tiananmen Square. The six practitioners were brought to the police station, where they were detained for the night after providing their statements. In this incident, the Indonesian police and judges unwittingly acted as the CCP's accomplices.

The practitioners provided the following evidence to the judge in their defence: The lawn behind the pavement does not belong to the area regulated by the city authorities; the peaceful appeal was tranquil and calm; only a few practitioners were holding the banners, so they could not possibly have obstructed pedestrian traffic; and the application for the peaceful appeal had been duly submitted to the police station. However, the judge interrupted their statement repeatedly, as if he wanted to suppress the disclosure of the truth.

Finally, the judge found them in violation of the 11th local law from 1988, "Occupying the space in an area to grow trees." The judge sentenced three of the practitioners to six months imprisonment and gave them a two-month suspended sentence. The judge sentenced the remaining three practitioners, who had been detained twice before, to an additional 15 days of imprisonment in addition to the above punishment.

According to the 9th law from 1998, every Indonesian citizen is ensured the right of free speech in public. Based on this, the practitioners refused to accept the unreasonable verdicts and requested to be released unconditionally, indicating their intention to appeal to a higher court immediately.

We strongly appeal to the Indonesian authorities: Do not ally yourselves with the CCP for the sake of temporary benefits.