Canada: Falun Gong Practitioners Hold Press Conference in Ottawa, Urge the Government to Not Allow Bo Xilai to Enter Canada

Chinese Minister of Commerce Bo Xilai, who was actively involved in the persecution of Falun Gong when he was the mayor of Dalian City and the governor of Liaoning Province, plans to visit Canada on Monday, May 28th, 2007. Falun Gong practitioners in Canada are urging the Canadian government to not allow Bo Xilai to enter the country.

Mr. Zeng Xiaona's mother Huang Xin is jailed in the Women's Prison in Liaoning

Mr. David Kilgour

On May 24th, 2007, representatives of Falun Gong practitioners, Mr. David Kilgour, former Parliament Member and former Canadian Secretary of State for Asia Pacific, Mr. David Harris, a former top official with the Canadian Security Intelligence Service and the Senior Fellow for National Security with the Canadian Coalition for Democracies, and two Falun Gong practitioners whose relatives are being persecuted in Liaoning Province, China, held a press conference at the Canadian Parliament, urging the Canadian government to cancel the invitation of Bo Xilai, forbid his entry into Canada and investigate his role in the persecution of Falun Gong in Liaoning Province, China.

Bo Xilai Is Actively Involved in the Persecution of Falun Gong; His Name is on the List of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police

Bo Xilai was a former Vice Secretary of the Liaoning Party Committee, Governor of Liaoning Province, Secretary of Dalian City Party Committee and Mayor of Dalian City. Since the initiation of the persecution of Falun Gong, Bo has managed and directed the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners in Liaoning Province. When Bo was in charge, Dalian was one of the cities where the most severe persecution occurred in China. Fifteen practitioners were tortured to death. When he was governor of Liaoning Province, one billion yuan (about $123 million) was invested in construction of prisons. More than 500 million yuan (about $61.6 million) was invested in the Masanjia Labour Camp in Shenyang. According to Falun Dafa website, 369 Falun Gong practitioners have been persecuted to death in Liaoning Province.

In the Statement on the Visit to Canada by China's Commerce Minister Bo Xilai, Mr. Harris said: "The Canadian Coalition for Democracies (CCD) is concerned about the entry into Canada of China's Commerce Minister, Bo Xilai on Monday May 28th, 2007. There are serious allegations about Bo Xilai regarding torture and crimes against humanity. These concerns have been brought to the attention of Canadian government officials, the RCMP and the Department of Justice's Interdepartmental Operations Group of Canada; Crimes Against Humanity & War Crimes Programme."

Through the end of January 2004, Canada's Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Programme established a list of Chinese officials from each level of Party Committees, "610 Offices," local governments and forced labour camps that are responsible for the persecution of Falun Gong for The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP). If anyone on the list attempts to enter Canada, a prompt investigation could take place, potentially resulting in refusal of visas to Canada, deportation, charges and punishment based on Canada's laws governing crimes against humanity and war crimes.

Xiaonan Zeng, a resident of Toronto, gave testimony at the press conference that his mother was still imprisoned in China for practising Falun Gong. His mother Huang Xin, over 50 years old, has been arrested and imprisoned many times. She was unlawfully sentenced to an 8-year prison term. In prison, she was tortured and injected with toxic drugs that damaged her nervous system, leading to impaired speech and walking disability. She was not able to recognise her husband.

Mr. Zeng said that Bo Xilai was the governor of Liaoning and he is responsible for Huang Xin's case.

Sixty-seven-year-old Zhao Yu is from Chaoyang City, Liaoning Province. Her husband, Zhen Weidong, was a famous Chinese medicine doctor and a Falun Gong practitioner. During the persecution, Zhen Weidong was forced to quit his Chinese medicine practice. Zhao Yu said: "My husband developed serious heart disease due to the mental pressure and the CCP's harassment. He passed away in May 2001. My children have been harassed too and were sent to a brainwashing centre. Later, everyone in my family was forced to become homeless."

Mr. Kilgour said: "We cite in our report a statement by a former wife of a surgeon in that province at the time that Mr. Bo was a very active official in that province. He was the mayor of Dalian from 1999 to 2001 and the governor of the province from 2001 to 2004. That is, the example where 2,000 Falun Gong practitioners had their corneas removed by this woman's husband and all of those 2,000 people, she told us, were killed and their bodies were burned."

Mr. Kilgour stated that there is solid evidence showing that Bo Xilai was actively involved in the persecution, and he hoped that the Minister of Immigration will cancel the invitation to Bo Xilai. He said: "I don't think the minister of Immigration will have to bar him, but I think she should do it. She should do the correct thing to show Canadians and the terrible people around the world that they cannot come into Canada if they have been actively involved, as he was, in terrible crimes against humanity and against the Falun Gong community in China. So I hope she will bar him, and that he will not come. He must not come. Canada must not allow him to come."

Mr. Harris said that under Canadian law, non-citizens have been barred from entering the country. On matters including criminality and terrorism, it is our view that Mr. Bo should be excluded certainly on the basis of his implication on organ harvesting in China.

Bo Xilai Will face law suit if he enters Canada

Ms. Zhou Limin, the spokesperson of the Falun Dafa Association in Canada, said that Bo Xilai will face a lawsuit if he enters Canada.

On September 7th, 2005, Mr. Lawrence Greenspon, a famous human rights lawyer in Ottawa, sued Bo Xilai at the Ontario Supreme Court for torturing Falun Gong practitioners. The Falun Dafa Association in Canada requested that the Canadian government bar Bo Xilai and Xia Deren from entering Canada in September 2005, and their names were later removed from the list of those who would visit Canada.

So far, Falun Gong practitioners in more than 10 countries have filed lawsuits against Bo Xilai, charging him with genocide, engaging in illegal arrests, unjustifiable imprisonment, torture and other charges. These countries include the USA, UK, Germany, Ireland, New Zealand, Russia, Australia, Korea, Spain and Switzerland.