AP: Falun Gong followers convicted in Hong Kong case that raised worries about freedoms

Three Swiss Falun Gong followers (From R) Roland Isenschmid, Erich Bachmannand, Duy Lam and other local practitioners demonstrate outside the magistrate court in Hong Kong August 15, 2002. A Hong Kong court found 16 Falun Gong members guilty of public obstruction and other offences during a protest against Beijing, a ruling likely to spark fresh concern about freedoms in the territory five years into Chinese rule. (Kin Cheung/Reuters)

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AP World Politics

Thu Aug 15, 3:24 AM ET
By MARGARET WONG, Associated Press Writer

HONG KONG - Sixteen Falun Gong followers were convicted Thursday of causing an obstruction during a protest outside the Chinese government' liaison office here — in a case rights activists called a
threat to Hong Kong' freedoms.

It was the first time Hong Kong had brought criminal charges against members of Falun Gong, which is outlawed [..] in mainland China but remains legal in this former British colony, which was returned to China in 1997.

Magistrate Symon Wong convicted the defendants, including four Swiss and one New Zealand citizen, of all counts. He then imposed fines ranging from 1,300 Hong Kong dollars (U.S. dlrs 167) to 3,800 Hong Kong dollars (U.S. dlrs 487) but did not jail anybody.

Several Falun Gong followers stood to protest their innocence as Wong left the courtroom, but he ignored them.

"The verdict once more shows the pressure from mainland China," said one of the Swiss defendants, Erich Bachmann. "The people are now being persecuted in Hong Kong." [..]

The defendants showed little emotion as Wong read out the verdicts in the Western Magistracy, ending a trial that began in June.

Rights activists and opposition lawmakers accused Hong Kong of appeasing Beijing by bringing the prosecution. Falun Gong spokesman Kan Hung-cheung promised an appeal.

Falun Gong frequently protests in Hong Kong against the mainland' suppression that the group claims has left hundreds of followers dead, creating an uneasy situation for Hong Kong.

Free speech rights were guaranteed for 50 years when Hong Kong was returned from Britain to China, but pro-Beijing figures here have demanded action against Falun Gong. [..]

Falun Gong contends its followers did not block the sidewalk and defense attorneys argued police who later sealed off the area were the only ones causing any obstruction.

Hong Kong dismissed accusations it sought to stifle Falun Gong, saying anybody here can protest within the law. [..]

The Swiss defendants are Bachmann, from Kreuzlingen; Roland Isenschmid and Claudia Simone Schlegel-Grunenfelder, from Bern; and Lam Duy Quoc, from Zollikofen.

A Swiss consular official, Annegret Zimmermann, called the verdicts surprising.

"The Swiss government puts a lot of importance on the freedom of expression," Zimmermann said outside the court.