Spain: Falun Gong Practitioners Seek Justice in Court

Three Falun Gong practitioners from different countries testified in a Spanish court on July 30th 2007. They accused Chinese high ranking officials of genocide and cruel torture against Falun Gong practitioners. Spain’s largest free daily newspaper Twenty Minute thus interviewed these three practitioners in this regard.

The paper reported that tens of thousands of innocent people were slaughtered by the Chinese Communist autocratic regime just because they follow the principles of “Truth, Compassion, and Tolerance”. This is the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners by the Chinese regime. The Spanish judiciary is investigating the on-going atrocities in Chinese jails. The Spanish Supreme Court accepted the lawsuit of June 20th 2006 considering that Spanish courts can hear the case of genocide and cruel torture against innocent people in other countries.

The three victims, Zhao Ming, Dai Zhizhen, and Chen Ying appeared last Monday before Judge Ismael Moreno in the Spanish State Court. They gave detailed accounts of their horrifying experiences in Chinese jails.

Zhao Ming is an information science Masters Graduate currently living in Ireland. He described his experience while returning to China to visit relatives. “I was kidnapped by secret police upon returning to China and thrown into jail. They used all kinds of cruel torture trying to force me to give up my belief. They forcibly pressed down my upper body toward my legs, bending my body at the waist and stuffing me under the bed for several days. The pain was unbearable. The reason I survived was, because I was of slender build. Others were less fortunate. One of my fellow practitioners broke his lumbar vertebra that he became paralysed and quadriplegic.”

He also gave accounts of other types of tortures, e.g., forced standing for over ten hours with hands holding the feet, electrocution and deprivation of sleep. “I was handcuffed to a chair and several policemen would beat me once I closed my eyes.” With pressure from the Irish government and the international society, Zhao was finally released.

Dai Zhizhen is in the tourism industry. With her daughter Fadu in tow, she was seeking justice for her husband. Her husband was murdered by the Chinese Communist authority because he spoke out for Falun Gong. “He was arrested when he sent the Beijing authority a letter stating that Falun Gong was good and did no harm to society. Fadu was only nine month old at the time.”

She appeared extremely miserable while talking about her husband’s misfortune. She said that she would not stop appealing until the murderer of her husband was dealt with according to the law. “Fadu was still a small child when we went to Tiananmen Square to protest. The police beat both of us regardless of her age.” Even living in Australia now, Dai said she was often followed by strangers and harassed over the phone. “The Chinese Communist regime has a persecution network all over the world.”

Chen Ying was forced to divorce because of practising Falun Gong. Her husband was a civil servant and had to distance her. She was forced out of China and is now residing in France. She had been arrested three times with no reason given. She was imprisoned in a labour and reformation camp where she endured extreme suffering she would never forget in her life. “The police ordered ordinary criminals to beat me. I was stripped naked and sprayed with icy water in the winter time. This would continue for two days, it was horrible.” Chen lost parts of her memory because of forced intravenous injections. She had been subjected to organ examination to see if she was suitable for organ harvesting.

Organ black market

A report, written by David Kilgour, former Canadian MP and Secretary of State for Asia-Pacific, and renowned human right lawyer David Matas, proves that “harvesting organs from living Falun Gong practitioners” does exist. “We stress that we concluded through our investigation this kind of criminal act does exist. A large number of Falun Gong practitioners have been slaughtered since 1999. Their organs, including hearts, kidneys, livers, and corneas, were harvested and sold overseas for profit.”