Italy: Chinese Language Newspaper in Milan Found Guilty of Slandering Falun Gong

The Italian Falun Dafa Association brought an accusation against the “European Chinese Newspaper” for libel. On July 6th, 2006, a Milan Court adjudicated that the accusation against Dall’ Alba, the director of the Chinese newspaper, and Jiang Ming, the reporter (his pen name is Taishan) had been proved and imposed a hefty fine as a punishment.

During February and March of 2002, “European Chinese Newspaper” carried many articles slandering Falun Gong practitioners and spread hatred among the Chinese Community. These articles played a part in assisting the carrying out of the persecution of Falun Gong initiated by Jiang Zemin, the former leader of China. The shocking news that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has removed organs from living Falun Gong practitioners and subsequently sold them, which has been recently exposed, shows that the persecution is so severe that it has far exceeded people’s imagination.

Judge Cernuto, said in a statement to the court that the vindication of the accused did not hold water because they should have had enough resources and convenient conditions to come to know the facts about Falun Dafa, which has been reported by many international organisations such as Amnesty International, Observation of Human Rights, The Family of Freedom, The UN High Committee of Human Rights, The UN Committee of Human Rights and Hands Off Cain.

After hearing the result of the judgment today, Mr. Fava, Chairman of the Italian Falun Dafa Association, said,“The judgment of the Milan Court is the first one we have received. We have also accused some other Chinese newspapers who have done similar things. The case is under inquisition in the Rome Courts at the moment. We are expressing our welcome to the judgment from the Milan Court. Although the judgment has not completely included aspects of the CCP regime’s cruel persecution of Falun Dafa, it has comprehensively confirmed the fact that the European Chinese Newspaper carried a series of articles slandering Falun Gong practitioners. These articles are exactly a part of the CCP regime stigmatising Falun Dafa and legalising its persecution. If their actions are not stopped, they will have a wicked impact on public opinion from the Chinese communities in Italy and Italian civilians.