Sweden: Delivering Letters to the Embassies of Thailand and Argentina in Stockholm

On the 19th of December, two practitioners in Stockholm visited the Embassies of Thailand and Argentina. They handed over letters from the Swedish Falun Gong Association and information about the Chinese Communist Party forcing the authorities of Thailand and Argentina to persecute Falun Gong. Demonstrations in front of both Embassies will be held this week.

In the letter to the Thai Embassy, practitioners pointed out that on December 10th — International Human Rights Day — while practitioners were protesting in front of the Chinese Embassy, Thai police were instigated by embassy officials to search practitioners' bags, drag them away, seize their banners etc. On December 14th, two practitioners were beaten and then three were arrested when they distributing materials that exposing the evil nature of the Chinese Communist Party at the tourist city Pattaya. They were released that night. On December 15th, eight practitioners were arrested in front of the Chinese Embassy by Thai police and they are still detained. These behaviours violate the human rights of a legal local group — Falun Gong practitioners of Thailand.

The officer from the Thai Embassy had already learned about Falun Gong two years ago when Swedish practitioner Pirjo Svensson was unlawfully arrested in Bangkok. The officer listened carefully to the Swedish practitioners’ account of what happed in Bangkok on the 15th of December. The practitioners also told him about the recent rape of two female practitioners in China.

The secretary in the Argentinean Embassy had already learned about what happened on 14th December. She expressed her regret that the evil Chinese Communist Party could ever persecute Falun Gong practitioners in Buenos Aires.

Since 1999, Falun Gong practitioners have been brutally persecuted in Mainland China. Luo Gan, a member of the Standing Committee of the Chinese Communist Politburo, is one of the chief perpetrators of the persecution. On December 13th 2005, while Luo Gan was visiting Argentina, Falun Gong practitioners in Argentina, on behalf of all Falun Gong practitioners who have been suffering persecution in China, filed a criminal lawsuit against Luo in federal court, accusing him of committing the crimes of genocide and torture during the persecution campaign against Falun Gong. The very next day, outside the Argentine Congress, practitioners were assaulted by thugs deployed by the Chinese Embassy.

When the assault occurred, Luo Gan was about to go to the Congress to meet with Argentina's vice president. Practitioners displayed banners to protest the persecution and in particular, Luo's crimes. They also distributed information about the lawsuit against Luo and evidence of Luo's crimes to members of congress. All of a sudden, Chinese men appeared and violently took away practitioners' banners, fliers and personal property. They also rampantly assaulted practitioners, right in front of the media. Some Argentineans tried to stop the violence; however, they were assaulted as well and some were injured.

Surprisingly, on-duty police officers didn't take any action to stop the violence. Reportedly they were ordered by higher authorities not to stop the assailants.

While the Chinese Embassy to Argentina and the assailants were the direct perpetrators of the assault, the chief culprit behind-the-scenes was Luo Gan.

Luo Gan, as Secretary of the Political and Legislative Affairs Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Central Committee and head of the 610 Office (an agency created specifically to persecute Falun Gong that operates above Chinese law), directly planned, deployed and directed the persecution against Falun Gong. In order to gain personal political capital, he arbitrarily murdered Falun Gong practitioners, implicated, coerced and threatened millions of families, and created countless family tragedies and wrongful arrests. He manipulated the political and judiciary system, and made use of the country's propaganda machinery to spread lies to the world to distort and demonize Falun Gong practitioners, to mislead the public. He also wantonly arrested and detained Falun Gong practitioners on a large scale across the country to inhumanly and ruthlessly persecute them.

After Jiang stepped down, Luo Gan continued to push the persecution of Falun Gong so as to force the new leaders to take responsibility. This year, he directed a new round of arrests of Falun Gong practitioners, which has led to frequent torture and death cases. Many extremely despicable cases have occurred. In addition, he brings persecution and injustice to wherever he goes.