Belgium: Representatives of Prime Minister Accepts Falun Gong Practitioners' Petition on Behalf of the Belgian Government

On August 14th, the CIPFG (Coalition to Investigate Persecution of Falun Gong) submitted a global petition to the Belgian Prime Minister. The petition urged the Belgian government to help end the CCP (Chinese Communist Party)'s persecution of Falun Gong. Matthias Slaats, representative of the Belgian Falun Gong Association, and Belgian Senator Mr. Patrik Vankrunkelsven were witness to the submission.

Vincent Houssiau, the Prime Minister’s diplomatic and political adviser and Dominique Dehaene, the Prime Minister’s spokesperson, accepted the petition in person in the Prime Minister’s office in Brussels. Over 1,300,000 signatures from 133 nations, including 7,000 from Belgium, were collected. Presented to the Prime Minister was also a petition signed by political figures from different countries, along with photos of people petitioning against the persecution worldwide.

The two officials marveled at the innumerable signatures in support of the campaign to call on China to promptly stop its persecution of Falun Gong. They attentively listened to the account of the brutal persecution inflicted on Falun Gong practitioners in China. Matthias Slaats detailed the reason why the CCP launched the persecution and presented to the two officials the book, "Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party". Then, Senator Patrik Vankrunkelsven emphasised the CCP crimes of organ harvesting from living Falun Gong practitioners. The two officials said that the Prime Minister would mention to China’s leaders the human rights of the persecuted Falun Gong practitioners on a suitable occasion during his visit to China.

Mr. Patrik Vankrunkelsven, a senator from the Liberty Party in the Flemish Community and chair of the Judicial Committee of the Belgian Senate, had personally investigated organ harvesting in China and thus further confirmed the independent investigation conducted by David Kilgour and David Matas. Mr. Senator said, “Our Prime Minister will depart for China in two days to attend the Beijing Olympics. He will also meet China’s officials. We will also ask them to discuss China’s human rights problems, such as the situations of Falun Gong and Tibet.” Mr. Senator added that he was very willing to come here to submit the petition because of his support for Falun Gong.

Nele Roegiest, Belgian representative of the CIPFG, said that every petitioner also has their relatives and friends and will inform them of the persecution. She believes that more and more people will understand the persecution, and that the global anti-persecution petition will bring a great impact on society, said Nele in her interview with the Belgian news agency outside the Prime Ministry.

In addition, the CIPFG offered the Belgian Prime Ministry the newly provided Guide to China’s Labour Camps: Torture being carried out near the Olympic Village. The Prime Minister was also alerted to the fact that the CCP had already removed the imprisoned Falun Gong practitioners outside Beijing. Similarly, years ago when crimes of organ harvesting at the Sujiatun concentration camp in Shenyang, Liaoning province were exposed, the CCP immediately removed the victims and destroyed the relevant evidence.

Finally, the CIPFG representative sincerely hoped that the Belgian Prime Minister could express particular concern over the imprisoned human rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng, Beijing Falun Gong practitioners, and the painter Xu Na. Centre d’ Animation Globale du Luxembourg, a well-known cultural organisation in the French Community, Belgium, has been attempting to secure the release of Xu Na.

So far the CIPFG has presented the petition to the following countries and international institutes: Australia, New Zealand, America, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Taiwan, Poland, Slovakia, Switzerland, Ukraine, the European Commission, and the International Olympic Committee.