Report about Florian Akbar’s Arrest

February 15, 2002

Florian is one of the eight practitioners who were arrested on February 14th, 2002 on Tiananmen Square. He was apprehended at a police checkpoint before he could go to Tiananmen Square. This checkpoint was one where all Western tourists are routinely checked and searched. Approximately 300 uniformed and plain-clothes police officers were in attendance.

Florian himself did not want to protest, but merely observe the goings-on. He was grabbed by the hair and slammed to the ground. What actually transpired in the Square escaped him. The officers crammed their knees into his back, brutally hit him in the back with their elbows and twisted his head backwards. He suffered contusions to his neck and back. He kept asking quietly for the reasons for this treatment and arrest and attempted to get up, which was met with even harsher abuse. The officers pointed toward the black police van and tried to drag him there. He managed to get lose from the police officers and shouted loudly “Falun Dafa” and made himself known as a Falun Dafa practitioner. “If they arrest and incarcerate me anyway, at least I want to them to know that I had said ‘Falun Dafa is good’ and that the Chinese government must recognize what they are doing is wrong,” said Florian.

He was brought to the Beijing Police Precinct where he had to identify himself and the officers wrote down his information. Following that, together with several other practitioners, was driven to a hotel near the airport. The practitioners were separated, he related, among them a pair of sisters and taken to separate rooms. Florian was subjected to a six-hour interrogation. He demanded to get in contact with the [German] ambassador, a request that was denied. The police officers repeated the same question, over and over. All the time during the interrogation he was alternately persuaded in a friendly manner and threatened the next moment; it appeared that the police were attempting to use psychological tricks to get the practitioners to cave in. One time a police officer threatened, “If you don’t respond, I will incarcerate you and then kill you.” He constantly threatened to beat me, but I kept my cool. Following the interrogation, Florian had to listen to loudly played propaganda presentations. He was refused food and sleep.

After six hours, at 1:00 A.M., he was allowed to join other practitioners in the lobby of police headquarters. They were driven back to their hotels to retrieve their luggage, watched by ten police officers, among them two from the “610 Office” (The “610 Office” is an agency specifically created to persecute Falun Gong, with absolute power over each level of administration in the Party and all other political and judiciary systems). Following that he was locked into a room with seven other practitioners and guarded by at least 20 police officers. At one time he was forcefully removed from this room. They forced him to stand in front of the hotel, immobilized his arms and took a photograph of him from the chest on up. “I believe they wanted to take a nice picture of me in front of the hotel to show the public later on how pleasantly they treated us.”

The next day at 1:00 P.M. the Germans were taken to the airport. Many did not get their luggage returned to them. One of the practitioners had to travel home without his shoes. From Florian they confiscated a digital camera, a cell phone and a video camera, worth DM 6,000.00, or approximately $ 5,000.00. Even after repeated requests to get his property back, he did not receive it. He was told “you won’t get that back.”

February 15, 2002, around 5:00 P.M., Florian’s plane landed at the Hamburg airport.
Friends and relatives greeted and received him. Present also were a TV team and a radio journalist. Florian provided more information on the way home during an interview.

According to his testimony, several practitioners are still in police custody, beyond the customary 24-hour period, among them Andre Huber. Florian is particularly disturbed how brutal and forceful the Chinese police officers treated even Western Falun Gong practitioners. “Some of them were really beaten very hard. The officers knew exactly where to hit, so it would not be noticeable.”

“Brutality against women is particularly disconcerting. Annett Mutter was repeatedly hit in the face. One of her cheeks become distended and swollen… even 17-year-old Steffi Koerper was slammed onto a bed with great force.”

“Some male police officers acted like genuine, beastly animals. They completely lacked self-control. I had the feeling, over and over again, that they really wanted to beat me up.”

(Original text in German