Canada: Chen Zhili Is Sued during Visit to Vancouver, Summons Delivered

On February 7th, 2006, five Canadian Falun Gong practitioners who have worked or studied in the Chinese Educational System filed a lawsuit with the Supreme Court of British Columbia, against Chen Zhili, the visiting State Council Member of China. Chen Zhili, a diehard follower of former Chinese President Jiang Zemin, has been accused of the crime of Torture and Crimes Against Humanity. The court has delivered the summons to Chen. This is Chen's second time to be sued since July 19th, 2004, when she was accused and summoned to the court in Tanzania for "committing crimes of torturing and killing Falun Gong practitioners in the Chinese education system."

On February 7th, as Chen Zhili visits the Confucius School of the British Columbia Institute of Technology (BCIT), Falun Gong practitioners protest with banners in the street

The five Canadian practitioners suing Chen are Zhang Kunlun, Jin Rong, Liu Wenyu, Zhu Ying and Fuo Zhaoxia. The court delivered the summons to Chen Zhili in person on February 8th.

In a peaceful protest, practitioners unfold a banner reading, "Stop Persecuting Falun Gong" and "Chen Zhili forced the educational system to persecute Falun Gong! - the crime is undeniable," while Chen Zhili attends the opening ceremony of the Confucius School of BCIT on February 7th.

Chen Zhili has actively applied Jiang's policy of suppressing Falun Gong during her term as Minister of Education. She enforced the propaganda of slandering Falun Gong in the educational system, from elementary schools to colleges, forced students to sign their names against Falun Gong, and poisoned the minds of Chinese youth. Under the persecutory policies, in 2003 alone, there were at least 435 practitioners from 210 universities or colleges forcibly sent to brainwash classes, forced labour camps or even psychiatric hospitals, where they underwent brutal persecution. According to unofficial sources, as of January 29th, 2006, nearly 150 teachers and students were persecuted to death in China. Such cases were scattered throughout the country.