Article in Deutsche Presse-Agentur: Jiang Renzheng Imprisoned in a Chinese Labour Camp.

On August 9th, Deutsche Presse-Agentur reported that the Bavarian State Government held discussions about setting up a committee to deal with such an emergency affair as Jiang Renzheng’s unlawful imprisonment in a Chinese labour camp. The report goes as follows:-

Jiang Renzheng, twenty nine years old, is being persecuted. On March 7th, Mr. Jiang, his wife and their two children were deported from the Bavarian State in Germany to China because they were not granted asylum. Shortly after his arrival in China, the staff from the State Security Bureau accosted him. One month later he was sent to a labour camp. Mr. Jiang is a Falun Gong practitioner, while at present the Falun Gong movement is being persecuted in China.

Due to her fear of China’s State Security Bureau, Jiang’s wife has gone into hiding. Their two children aged one and two were left in the care of their grandparents. The Bavarian State’s Ministry of Domestic Affairs admitted that unfortunately something like this has happened. The Green Party urged the Bavarian State to follow the example of other States to set up a committee to deal with emergency affairs.

As everyone knows, Falun Gong practitioners have been subjected to persecution in China. However, the German Judiciary still believes that only those who make public appeals for Falun Gong will be threatened by the Chinese authorities Ms Tang who keeps in contact with Mr. Jiang’s family said, “Such a case can be considered unprecedented in Europe.”

At first, Mr. Jiang and his family were not trusted by the German Government agencies because they started practising Falun Gong shortly after they had sought asylum. But the Falun Gong practitioners who support them never believed that they pretended to be Falun Gong practitioners. Falun Gong is a group developing quickly in Eastern Asia. Just like many religious groups in China, but, Falun Gong is not a religious group, Falun Gong helps one to integrate one’s body and mind. However, China regards it as a threat.

Undoubtedly, China’s State Security Bureau thinks of Mr. Jiang as a Falun Gong practitioner. Ms Tang said that Mr. Jiang is undergoing terrible mental transforming in Benxi Labour Camp in Liaoning province. “This is forcible brainwashing,” she said. Physical torture such as extended squatting and sleep deprivation are used to facilitate “brainwashing;” Falun Gong practitioners are forced to sign documents known as “repentance statements” and to watch Falun Gong slanderous video tapes; even cell inmates are used to torture Falun Gong practitioners, Ms Tang was cited as saying. “His parents are also under threat,” said Ms Tang. Her description is consistent with human rights groups’ reports of the torture methods used in China’s labour camps.

Based on reliable sources, the Chinese government has set up a spy network in Germany. Falun Gong practitioners together with overseas students opposing the government, Tibetan and Uighur dissidents and participants in Taiwan organisations are being monitored.

The Green Party believes that with the help of a committee to deal with emergency affairs, a tragedy like this can be avoided. “A righteous and non-political judgment should be made,” said Maria Scharfenberg, a female MP. “Fourteen States have already set up this kind of committee.” Concerning this point, spokesperson Ziegler for the Bavarian State’s Ministry of Domestic Affairs said, “First we have to examine the experiences of other states.”

Other Falun Gong followers at risk of being deported to China hope that they could avoid a similar fate. Mr. Jiang is still being imprisoned in a cell of three inmates. The federal government has negotiated this case with Beijing, but no favourable result has been brought about. Nevertheless, the Chinese Embassy in Berlin stated, “Evidence of a persecution against Falun Gong practitioners in China is fabricated.”