Press Releases and Media Reports
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Radio Free Asia: Falun Gong Practitioners Are Persecuted or even Tortured to Death in China
2004-12-28In China, Falun Gong is slandered and practitioners are persecuted by the regime; some have even been tortured to death. Three practitioners from Jilin Province, Yu Lixin, Liu Hongwei, and Song Yanqun, went to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong many times. Recently, their family members said that they were either sentenced to prison or labour camps. One of them was tortured to death, one was serious ill and another one was forced to stay away from home to avoid persecution. -
German Newspaper Reports on the Rescue of a Falun Gong Practitioner from a Chinese Forced Labour Camp
2004-12-25Organisations such as Amnesty International and the International Society for Human Rights (IGFM) have called on Beijing to stop the persecution for years. However, Xiong Wei’s case is apparently only one of many others. She returned to her home country in 2002 and was arrested by police while she was distributing printed materials about the persecution of Falun Gong. She was taken for “re-education” to a forced labour camp without trial. She talks about beatings, humiliation, and sleep deprivation. “We had to wrap 6,000 disposable chopsticks every day.” -
Radio France Internationale Reports on Falun Gong Lawsuits Against Senior Chinese Officials
2004-12-24"Facing the Chinese Communist regime's brutal persecution, practitioners in many countries have made significant progress in working for practitioners' human rights. As it is the French judiciary system sending an International Rogatory Letter to its counterpart in China, requesting an investigation and explanation on the abuses of French practitioner Hélène Petit and many other practitioners, we feel this shows substantial progress because an objective judiciary investigation of this kind would be impossible in China, where the media and Justice System and all other organs are controlled by the Chinese Communist Party." -
Media Report on French Legal System's Unprecedented Request for Chinese Government's Cooperation on the Lawsuit against Chinese Senior Officials
2004-12-23French Lawyer William Bourdon, through the French Justice System, has sent China a request to investigate the role of former Chinese Vice-Premier Li Lanqing and current Minister of Culture Sun Jiazheng in the persecution of Falun Gong. The European Chinese media outlet, European Daily carried a report on this progress on the front page of its weekend edition. -
EFGIC: The Youngest Victims
2004-12-22LONDON [EFGIC] – Little Jingyu, barely eight years old, lay silent, terrified, still, on the cold concrete floor of the Jiuxian Village jail. But the scene kept moving through her head. It was her dad she saw, she was sure, but not the strong, smiling father she knew. This time it was so different. Dad was crumpled in pain, writhing. Hours of beatings had left him a shadow of his former self. Police had made Jingyu watch. The pain and confusion proved too much for the young girl, even after she and her mother were released from custody. The trauma was so deep Jingyu soon began spitting up blood and vomiting. Less than one month later she passed away, too broken to live. -
Radio Free Asia: French Court Accepts Falun Gong Lawsuit Against Sun Jiazheng and Li Lanqing
2004-12-22A lawyer on behalf of French Falun Gong practitioners said on Thursday night that a local court has accepted four Falun Gong practitioners’ lawsuits against the Head of the Chinese Cultural Department Sun Jiazheng and the former Deputy Premier Li Lanqing. In addition they demanded the relevant Chinese judicial departments to offer assistance and help to investigate the on-going persecution against Falun Gong in China. -
EFGIC: International Falun Gong Plaintiffs Win Torture Lawsuits
2004-12-20LONDON [EFGIC] – We are encouraged by last Wednesday’s U.S. court ruling which found two high-ranking Chinese officials liable for crimes of torture, genocide, and other crimes against humanity. This ruling adds to the momentum of 47 lawsuits filed in 29 countries and six continents against Chinese officials who have actively persecuted Falun Gong practitioners. These lawsuits have become the largest international collaborative legal effort since the Nuremberg Nazi trials. -
London Metropolitan Police Asked to Charge Former Chinese Leader with Crimes Against Humanity
2004-12-19LONDON [FGAUK] - Application has been made to London New Scotland Yard for a criminal charge to be made against Jiang Zemin, formerly the general Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party and the Chairman of the People’s Republic of China. He is charged with crimes against humanity. As head of the Chinese Government, Jiang is personally responsible for organizing and directing a systematic campaign of persecution, torture and genocide against Falun Gong practitioners in China. -
Migros Magazine 45 (Switzerland): "A wonderful energy began to circulate throughout my body"
2004-12-19"After three sessions of one and a half hours I had learned the exercises ... nothing simpler, no need to do your head in! There are only five exercises, four standing and the fifth, if possible, in the meditative lotus position (which everyone does according to his or her capability)...This practice brings you harmony and inner strength and allows the energy to circulate in a marvellous way throughout the body." -
Radio Free Asia Interviewed a German Falun Gong Practitioner on World Human Rights Day
2004-12-17Falun Gong practitioner Ms Xiong Wei, who was interviewed by Radio Free Asia during activities for World Human Rights Day, said that two years of detention in a forced labour camp made her realise that the Chinese Communist Party not only abuses human rights but does something even worse; the Chinese Communist Party makes the Chinese people completely forget their basic rights as human beings through years of propaganda and suppression. -
Article from Germany’s Mittelbayerische Newspaper Exposing the Persecution of an Imprisoned Practitioner from Europe
2004-12-13Xiong Wei told us that the Chinese regime felt threatened by Falun Gong. Therefore, they banned this movement in 1999. The Communist regime specially created an agency (“The 610 Office”) that is in charge of persecuting Falun Gong. Xiong Wei wistfully told us that, “Adherents of this meditation school are persecuted by the state security agencies, who use psychological terror methods, beatings and torture.” Tens of thousands of adherents were sent by the regime to re-education camps. -
EFGIC: Persecution of Falun Gong Sparks Broadest Legal Efforts since Nuremberg
2004-12-12LONDON [EFGIC]– Lawsuits against persecutors of Falun Gong have become the broadest collaborative efforts since the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg. Efforts to hold Chinese Communist Party (CCP) members legally accountable for their role in persecuting Falun Gong are gaining momentum. The last month has seen cases filed in Canada, Ireland, Korea, and the Netherlands. Legal efforts inside China are increasing as well. -
Radio Free Asia: A Seminar on the Chinese Communist Regime will be held in Germany
2004-12-11“Falun Gong advocates ‘Truthfulness, Compassion and Forbearance’ but the Chinese Communist Party promotes vicious struggles. Therefore, they are fundamentally different. Secondly, belief holds people in awe, but the Chinese Communist Party maintains its political power by terror. After it took over power, the Chinese Communist Party has launched a variety of campaigns to continue its ruling position. This persecution did not end in the wake of Jiang Zemin’s step-down..." -
Radio France Internationale: Falun Gong Filed a Lawsuit in the Dutch Court Against Jiang Zemin and his Accomplices
2004-12-10The Falun Gong movement filed a law suit against Jiang Zemin, Bo Xilai and Li Lanqing to the Dutch Court on Thursday, accusing them of torturing two Dutch citizens who are Falun Gong practitioners. The Dutch Court will decide whether or not to start investigating this case in a few weeks time. -
Extract from Dutch Radio Station Report: Falun Gong Practitioners Sue Jiang Zemin for Genocide
2004-12-09Jiang Zemin, who stood down last year, is the brain behind the persecution. He altered the law for that purpose and established the Gestapo-like ‘6-10 Office’, with the aim of eliminating Falun Gong. This systematic way of eradicating the movement can be qualified as genocide according to the lawyer for the Dutch Falun Gong Association. Confirmation and documentation are available for about 1200 cases of Falun Gong practitioners who have been tortured to death by Chinese authorities.