Belgium: Practitioners Hold a Press Conference to Update the Progress of the Lawsuit against the 610 Office

On the morning of October 21st 2005, Falun Gong practitioners held a press conference together with the famous Belgian human rights lawyer, George Henri Beauthier, at the Supreme Court of Belgium. Mr Beauthier gave a status report on Falun Gong practitioners’ lawsuit against the “610 Office” on charges of telephone harassment. Hao Fenjun, the former 610 officer who has defected from the CCP, attended the conference and gave supporting evidence about the existence of the “610 Office” as well as its persecution of Falun Gong.

The lawsuit was submitted to the Supreme Court at the Belgian capital Brussels on July 19th, on the sixth anniversary of the CCP’s persecution. Representing two Falun Gong plaintiffs, Mr. Beauthier sued the CCP’s “610 Office” and its key personnel on grounds of harassment. Those indicted included: Luo Gan, the Secretary of the Political and Legislative Affairs Committee of the CCP Central Committee, Zhou Yongkang, the Minister of Public Security, Liu Jing, the Vice Minister of Public Security, and Xu Yongyue, the Minister of National Security. Another similar lawsuit had also been filed in France. The Belgian court has officially accepted this lawsuit.

The lawyer said, “We have evidence to show that these telephone calls originated from China, more specifically from the Chinese authorities. The judge in charge of this case has promised to do his best to find out the sources of these harassing phone calls. The first steps are difficult as the Chinese authorities will not cooperate. The Judge will ask the Chinese authorities to provide more detailed information. We will bring these harassers to justice.”

The lawyer went on to say that Falun Gong practitioners are protected in Belgium. Everything the Falun Gong practitioners do is legal, from their continuing peaceful appeals to call for a stop to the persecution in China to their constant lawsuits against the persecutors. They aim simply to stop the CCP’s persecution of Falun Gong practitioners in China and overseas as soon as possible. It is the persecutors in China who violated the law.

Hao Fenjun gave the press an overview of the basic operation of the “610 Office”. He pointed out that the “610 Office” is a Gestapo like organisation specifically set up to persecute Falun Gong and other dissidents, which supersedes the Constitution and the law. Hao commented, “Firstly, I wanted to provide evidence to the lawyer that such a “610 Office” actually exists in mainland China. Secondly, I want this persecution to end as soon as possible, which was the reason why I came here.”