Vice President of the European Parliament Speaks at a Bangkok Conference

In a speech that Mr. Edward McMillan-Scott, Vice President of the European Parliament, delivered in a forum held at the Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok, Thailand on September the 10th, 2007, he said the organ harvesting from live Falun Gong practitioners is a very serious crime.

Mr. McMillan-Scott, Vice President of the European Parliament, says the Chinese communist regime’s organ harvesting from live Falun Gong practitioners is a crime

The “Current Situations and Prospects of Asian Democracy and Human Rights” forum is held in Bangkok, Thailand

In the afternoon of September 10th, Mr. McMillan-Scott attended the “Current Situations and Prospects of Asian Democracy and Human Rights” forum at Chulalongkorn University and met Thai democracy advocates, Falun Gong practitioners and the media. In the speech addressed to the forum attendees, he condemned the Chinese regime’s persecution of Falun Gong practitioners.

Mr. McMillian-Scott said, “I have been watching Asian democratic situations when I traveled to Hong Kong, Taiwan and Bangkok. In May 2006 when I was in Beijing, I was told of an awfully notorious medical treatment story, a religious group is been targeted for organ harvesting. The religious group is a spiritual movement that belongs to the Buddha School. Its name is Falun Gong.”

Referring to the persecution against Falun Gong, Mr. McMillan-Scott said, “I met two men at a secret site in Beijing. One was named Niu Jinping. He was imprisoned for two years because of practising Falun Gong. His wife is also a Falun Gong practitioner and is still being imprisoned in a labour camp. Mr. Niu met his wife four months ago. She was beaten all over her body, forcing her to abandon Falun Gong. Another man I met was Cao Dong, who was imprisoned and tortured for four years because of practicing Falun Gong. Mr. Cao told me that one day his friend disappeared and when he showed up again, he was a dead body with a big cut. Apparently, his organs had been taken away. On behalf of CIPFG (Coalition to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong in China), Mr. David Kilgour of Canada, conducted an investigation and provided some evidence in the report. If this is true and members of a religious group have been targeted for organ harvesting, it will be a very serious crime.”

Mr. McMillan-Scott indicated that the typical waiting time for a liver transplant in the western countries is thirty to forty weeks. However, it takes only two weeks in China. There are more than 40,000 cases of transplants in China of which the organ source cannot be reasonably accounted for. Furthermore, it is also suspicious that the military hospitals of People’s Revolution Army handled a great number of organ transplants. Organ harvesting from live Falun Gong practitioners is a very serious accusation against the Chinese authorities. He said, “I have met many Falun Gong practitioners in person. As they are all very nice people who don’t smoke or drink, their organs are particularly valuable. Ever since the Chinese regime started the persecution against Falun Gong in 1999, more than 3,000 Falun Gong practitioners have been confirmed persecuted to death in various forms of imprisonment.”

Several media, including the Thai News Agency MCOT TV9 and the Bangkok Post, came to report the event. During the forum, Mr. McMillan-Scott met Falun Gong practitioners who fled successfully from Mainland China. While listening to the practitioners’ accounts of their personal suffering in the brutal persecution, Mr. McMillan-Scott also took audio recording for the purpose of testimony.