United States: After Learning of the Death of Gao Rongrong, Practitioners Protest in Front of the Chinese Embassy in Washington DC

At noon on June 20, 2005, Dafa practitioners were shocked to learn that Gao Rongrong, who had suffered tremendously from torture and abuse, had died from persecution three days earlier in Shenyang City. Falun Gong practitioners in Washington DC hurriedly went to the Chinese Embassy to hold an urgent press conference, strongly condemning the Chinese Communist Party's atrocities and also strongly demanding the arrest of Tang Yubao and Jiang Zhaohua, who disfigured Gao's face, the arrest of the murderers who are responsible for her death, and an end to the persecution.

A practitioner reads a statement	Practitioners protest in front of the Chinese Embassy

Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Gao Rongrong, an accountant at the Luxun Fine Arts College in Shenyang City, was abducted by lawless officials in July 2003 and taken to Longshan Forced Labour Camp. On the afternoon of May 7th, 2004, at 3:00pm, Ms. Gao Rongrong was called to the office by camp Ward Leader Tang Yubao (male) and Jiang Zhaohua (male). These men shocked her for about seven hours with electric batons. Ms. Gao's face was severely deformed and covered with blisters. Her burned skin was stuck together with her hair and blood, and her eyes were barely visible due to the intense swelling of her face. Her mouth was severely swollen and the prisoners in the same cell could hardly recognise her when she was returned there.

After that, Gao Rongrong's ordeal and her photos showing her grossly disfigured face-- the work of the Chinese authorities--were publicised around the world, and Falun Gong practitioners also exposed the facts about the persecution of Ms. Gao to governments and human rights organisations. However, this exposure worldwide was not enough to save her from being tortured to death. It speaks volumes about the CCP's ferocity, its hysteria, and its lack of scruples.

Dr. Yu, a biochemical scientist said, "Regarding such a high-profile torture victim, the CCP even tortured her to death. It is obvious that the CCP is blatantly challenging the world's people who are kind, righteous and respect human rights. It also shows that the CCP is making a gesture to the world, implying, 'I'm a scoundrel, who am I afraid of.' "

Dr. Yu continued, "Nevertheless, no matter how atrocious the persecutors are, it is nothing but the CCP's desperate struggle before its collapse. It can only make those who still haven't seen clearly the CCP further understand that the CCP will never change its nature. We hope all governments, organisations, companies and individuals who are associated with the CCP will clearly see this point."

Recently, three former officials of the CCP who defected in Australia expressed that they have witnessed or experienced the CCP's brutal persecution of Falun Gong, so they no longer want to continue being accomplices of the CCP against their conscience. They all exposed the cruelty and despicable nature of the persecution.

According to incomplete statistics, over the past six years since July 20th, 1999, 2575 Falun Gong practitioners are verified through civil channels to have died as a result of the persecution. The cases of death from torture are distributed over 30 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities. But the actual death toll far exceeds this number. At least 6,000 Falun Gong practitioners have been illegally sentenced to prison, more than 100,000 practitioners have been sent to forced labour camps, thousands of practitioners have been forced into mental hospitals to be tortured with drugs damaging the central-nervous system. A large number of Falun Gong practitioners have been abducted to brainwashing centres located in different places to suffer mental torment, and many more practitioners have been subjected to beating, physical punishment and economic extortion by so-called "law enforcement personnel."

A representative of The World Organisation to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong said, "The persecution campaign against Falun Gong practitioners is greatly different from other persecutions in history. This persecution is conducted in the dark, and covered up by the CCP using its experiences and wile accumulated from several dozen years of political struggle. Many media outlets and governments pretend to be ignorant of all this due to the enticement of economic interests and pressure from the CCP."

Indeed, in history, Mahatma Gandhi's non-violent non-cooperation movement and Martin Luther King Jr's civil-rights movement were extensively reported by the media worldwide, and as a result they won the people's extensive sympathy and support. Today, Falun Gong practitioners have been able to spread the truth to almost every corner of the world under the CCP's media blockage. This illustrates even more the difficulty and greatness of Falun Gong practitioners' anti-persecution efforts.

A teacher at American University said, "From the detailed information revealed by three officials of the CCP who recently defected in Australia, we have seen that the iron curtain of lies has been torn off from inside, and there will be more and more officials of the CCP who have a conscience standing up to make the gap even larger."

A manager of a Health care centre in Washington DC said, "Gao Rongrong is a friend of mine that I have never seen. I feel indignant at the death of such a courageous woman. I also advise the officials at the Chinese Embassy not to participate in the persecution any more, and renounce the CCP like the three officials who defected in Australia," Then he said in Chinese, "The CCP will soon be finished."

The university professor said, "I hope all officials who participate in the persecution of Falun Gong will examine their conscience in the still of night, if what you've done is against your conscience. In the near future, after the persecution is over, how will you face the historical trial? At this moment when the CCP is about to exit from the stage of history, we hope the officials at the CCP's embassies and consulates will not assist the CCP to do evil any more, and be accomplices of the CCP. Choose your own future with your conscience and human nature. Chen Yonglin and Hao Fengjun have set an example for you. When you truly make a choice by following your conscience, all righteous and kind-hearted people around the world will applaud you."