Press release to all media:
The trial of Hong Kong Police prosecuting Falun Gong practitioners for a peaceful sit-in outside of the Chinese Government Liaison Office will be open for court session at 9:00 am at the Western Magistracy on June 17. The sixteen accused practitioners strongly deny the false charges made against them by the authorities and will clarify the truth in court.
This kind of political persecution has aroused concerns from governments of the free world as well as NGOs [Non-Governmental Organisations]. It's said that the Swiss Government will have a delegate to observe in the courtroom. In line with the cause of the local Falun Gong practitioners, some international human rights organizations, including the Swiss Section of the International Society for Human Rights, and ACAT-Switzerland, have written to the Hong Kong SAR Government to urge it to drop the charges against these 16 innocent practitioners.
The 16 accused practitioners are Swiss practitioners Eric Bachmann, Roland Isenschmid, LAM Duy Quoc, Simone Claudia Schlegel-Grunefelder, and Hong Kong residents CHEE Fei-ming, CHAU Sing, LAM Chi-for, Jenny Lee, LAU Wai-hing, LAU Yuk-ling, LU Jie, TSANG Hau-sim, TSE Lai-sim, TSO Chi-sin, WONG Yiu-hing, YEUNG Mei-wan. On 14 March, 2002, when these people were holding a small-scale peaceful appeal on the wide pavement outside the front gate of the Chinese Liaison Office, in protest against the Jiang Zemin Regime's brutal torture of mainland practitioners and urgently calling for rescue, they were forcefully removed by the Hong Kong Police under the excuse of causing an obstruction. Later on, they were charged with obstruction (16 of them), obstructing police in carrying out their duties (9 of them) and assaulting police (3 of them). In which, the charge of obstructing the police in carrying out their duties was increased to 9 persons from the original three persons.
Hong Kong Falun Gong practitioners point out: it is another incident of the Jiang Zemin Regime's suppression of overseas practitioners by utilizing police and state mechanisms abroad, as has happened in Iceland, and earlier in Russia, Germany, Indonesia and other places. However, the pressure from the Chinese dictator imposed upon the Hong Kong Government is far more direct than that suffered by other regions overseas.
In accordance with Hong Kong's Basic Law, Falun Gong practitioners, the same as other Hong Kong citizens, shall enjoy the freedom of speech, assembly, belief and rights and so on and so forth, without any unlawful infringement. Their peaceful, rational, solemn and orderly appeal outside of the Chinese Liaison Office is well-grounded, reasonable and legal. However, the Hong Kong authority's violent arrest and framed-up prosecution against them apparently originated from the pressure of the Mainland authority or its agent, but is not based on facts or legal evidence. Such action has seriously violated the human rights and dignity of peaceful appellant citizens.
Many facts show that Jiang's regime of exporting its suppression and persecution against innocent people overseas, through ugly means of pressuring foreign governments, secret monitoring, stealing intelligence, paid disturbance, fabrications or inciting hatred, has cause severe and in-depth damage to free societies respecting human rights and the rule of law. At the same time, it has been eroding and crumbling Hong Kong's high autonomy under "One country, two systems". Such a trial in Hong Kong is not only testing Hong Kong's judicial system which has long been respected as independent and fair, but also the "One country, two systems" policy promised by communist China to the world.
We call for countries, NGOs and kind-hearted people who support peace and justice to pay attention to the development of the trial, and assist Hong Kong SAR Government to correct its mistake in time to restore justice, and to retrieve any negative impact caused.
Contacts of accused Falun Gong practitioners:
Mr. Erich Bachmann 9247 6527
Ms. LAU Wai-hing 9626 5034
General Contacts:
Ms. Sharon Xu 9263 4150
Mrs. Hui Yee-han 9879 9879
Ms. Sophie Xiao 9108 2057
Source: http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2002/6/18/23258.html
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