On Wednesday 14th August, UK Falun Dafa practitioners held a press conference opposite the Chinese Embassy in London, to appeal against the unjust trial that is being conducted in Hong Kong at the moment. Many members of the public were very interested in the loss of civil liberties in what they previously believed to be a free and democratic society. Special flyers were created to inform passers-by of the denial of basic human rights that has been forced on the Hong Kong and Swiss citizens in Hong Kong at the moment. It outlined the ridiculous nature of the charges and how any fair court in the world would have instantly dismissed a prosecution that is supported by no substantial evidence. Practitioners also outlined the tremendous amount of flaws in the case of the obstruction, such as:
· The appeal took up less than seven square metres (about the size of a large van) out of a 140 square-metre area (about the size of a football pitch).
· The police surrounded the practitioners with metal barricades, which blocked the entire sidewalk, forcing the pedestrians onto the street. The police then left the barricades there for five days. Right now the pavement is almost entirely dug-up for "improvements".
· The prosecution provided no third party witnesses, or a single person who was obstructed.
· The burden of proof belongs to the prosecution, yet they could not prove that obstruction, let alone assault, took place.
· The judge was asked to step down in the middle of the trial because he was biased, but he refused (he has a record of convicting 9-10 defendants).
· In the judge's summary, he personally attacked the character of the practitioners, focusing on their "inconsistencies", yet he dismissed the police's inconsistencies saying that they were "understandable" under the chaotic situation.
· The judge said that he had never seen such "compassionate" action by policemen. Place this next to the picture...
· Last August, practitioners were arrested at the same spot but were released with no charges, thus showing that they did not break the law.
· If this is a simple obstruction case, why was one of the most prominent prosecutors in Hong Kong hired to handle the case?
· The entire charges are illegal since the arrest was illegal to begin with.
Wednesday evening saw a press conference with speeches made by Lord Moyne, Lord Thurlow, Vice-Chairman of “European Friends of Falun Gong” John Dee, Patsy Coleman MP and Chairman of the European Falun Dafa Association Peter Jauhal. A BBC camera crew also attended the press conference.
In his speech, the Chairman of the European Falun Dafa Association pointed out the close relationship between the UK and Hong Kong and that he hoped that the UK Government could take action against this blatant violation of the “One country, Two systems” agreement ratified by the Chinese authorities in 1997. He also stated, “Although this persecution has spread to Hong Kong now, but where will it go next? We have recently seen a grave abuse of human rights with the deportation of a Chinese couple from Cambodia. This deportation is a blatant and direct violation of the couple’s official status as U.N. refugees. When justice and fairness are trampled on and when laws are interpreted for political ends, laws that are created as an instrument of human rights protection become the machinery of human rights violations.”
As morning broke, news of the guilty verdict given by the biased Hong Kong judge reached the practitioners at the Embassy. A further press conference was held highlighting the persecutory nature of this case and the lack of human rights in the now tarnished “pearl of the east” that is Hong Kong.
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