Press Releases and Media Reports
TV and Radio | Publications | Press Releases
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The Epoch Times: Chinese New Year in Paris is Eventful and The Chinese Embassy Challenges the French Spirit
2004-01-28'There will be thousands of Chinese attending the parade on the Avenue des Champs Elysees in downtown Paris on the 3rd of January in the Chinese Lunar Calendar. As a registered group, the Falun Dafa Association also handed in an application for participation in the spring festival parade. However, it was blocked by the Chinese Embassy in France for “the Chinese governments attitude toward Falun Gong", which has been brought to the attention of the members of the European Parliament and human rights groups.' -
Radio France Internationale Interviews Falun Gong Practitioners
2004-01-28According to out understanding, the situation is that the Paris city authorities proposed to hold the Spring festival parade on the Champs Elysees. This is an event related to Chinese culture, and is open to the general public. Since the French Falun Dafa Association is an organisation officially registered in France, and has received support from government circles, as well as human rights associations, we deem it to be our right to participate in the parade. -
NTDTV Press Release: Summary of the Exclusive Interview with Mr. Li Hongzhi, Founder of Falun Gong
2004-01-27An exclusive interview with Mr. Li Hongzhi, founder of the Falun Gong spiritual practice, aired globally at 9:00 p.m. EST January 20, 2004 on New Tang Dynasty Television (NTDTV). This is the first interview that Mr. Li has granted to media since 1999. -
Radio Free Asia: Chinese Diplomats are Blocking Falun Gong's Application to Participate in the Chinese New Year Parade in Paris
2004-01-26Mr. Zhang Jianping said, “The Paris city authority organised a Chinese New Year parade for Chinese residents on Avenue des Champs Elysees. It is a public and Chinese-culture-related activity. Falun Gong is a group legally registered in France and has the right to participate. We then made an application. However, the application was illegally interfered with by the Chinese Embassy. There only excuse was illegal suppression by the Chinese government" -
Radio Free Asia Report on Falun Gong Practitioners Press Conference
2004-01-26The press conference was originally to be held for an hour, however it lasted beyond this as there were two Falun Gong practitioners who were directly persecuted in China and gave their testimony on the spot. One was Dai Zhizhen, whose husband was persecuted to death because he said “Falun Dafa is good.” The other Falun Gong practitioner, whose husband worked in the Chinese Embassy in France, was locked up and experienced various cruel torture and brainwashing for more than a year when she went back to her hometown to tell people about how China persecutes Falun Gong. Both were interviewed because the reporters were interested in their stories. -
Radio Free Asia: The Activities of the Chinese Government During the Spring Festival Period May Have Embarrassed their French Counterparts
2004-01-25Falun Gong practitioners had originally planned to hold a series of activities to celebrate the spring festival and to expose the Jiang regime’s persecution. Practitioners applied to the relevant departments for permission as usual. Instigated by an evil manipulator, the Chinese Embassy unreasonably obstructed the activities and applied pressure to the relevant French departments. This challenges the idea of democracy and freedom. -
EFGIC: Landmark Genocide Lawsuit Against Jiang Zemin on Firm Ground, Says Appeal Filed Today
2004-01-23Dr. Terri Marsh, lead attorney in the ground-breaking lawsuit against former Chinese leader Jiang Zemin and the 6-10 Office, filed a 60-page brief this morning in the U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago. The brief asks the Circuit Court to reverse the decision of the U.S. District Court and allow the case to go forward. -
Radio France Internationale: Falun Gong Practitioners Hold a Series of Press Conferences
2004-01-23'The French Falun Dafa Association held a press conference in Paris on Tuesday to protest that they have been prevented from participating in the Spring Festival Parade on January 24th. Falun Gong practitioners will hold a parade on January the 23rd in Paris and hold a candlelight vigil that evening near the Eiffel Tower.' -
EFGIC Press Release: European MEP Urges Paris not to Yield to Pressure from Chinese Regime
2004-01-20"Next weekend (22-25 January) the Chinese regime will be arriving in Paris. Among the 5000 people coming, there will be many Chinese high officials. The image is one of a beautiful cultural show, friendship between nations … but yet there is also a hidden dark side - many have been excluded from the festivities." -
Radio France Internationale: Human Rights Organisations Concerned Over the Death of Jailed Falun Gong practitioner
2004-01-10'Agence France-Presse quoted a statement made by the Falun Gong Information Centre in New York revealing that this person’s name is Liu Chengjun and he had been sentenced to 19 years in jail because of his involvement in broadcasting Falun Gong videos on cable TV in March 2001. He died in a hospital in Changchun city, China. According to the statement, Liu was brutally beaten and tortured repeatedly in jail. People who saw Liu before his death said that he appeared to be very weak. He could hardly be recognised because of the relentless torture.' -
Falun Gong Iceland Dialogue Committee Press Release: Ombudsman turns his back on the Icelandic People in favour of Government Officials
2004-01-08"The Ombudsman has basically approved all the arguments from the Government for its unacceptable actions of denying entry of peaceful Falun Gong practitioners, compiling and distributing and using a blacklist of practitioners, detention of practitioners and other wrongful treatments...This goes against the proud traditions of Icelandic democracy and the overwhelming wishes of the modern Icelandic people. This must be corrected, for the sake of Iceland and its people as well as justice for practitioners involved. We call on the Ombudsman to re-consider his conclusions as urgently as possible." -
EFGIC: Electric-shock Torture, Sexual Assault Rampant in “Re-education” of Falun Gong in Chinese Labour Camp
2004-01-08They first locked the practitioners in a room and then, one by one, took them to another room to try to force them to sign a letter renouncing Falun Gong. Those who refused to do so were electrocuted with cattle prods and beaten with batons. Outside, loudspeakers boomed threats against Falun Gong practitioners throughout the camp. The report says the electric buzz of the cattle prods, the shouting of the torturers, the screaming of the practitioners combined with the threats belted out from the loudspeakers covered the camp with a sense of fear and terror. -
Swiss Stock Exchange Rating Agency Removes Volkswagen from its Stock Option List
2004-01-04The internationally active investment firm Helvetica Invest AG, which is located in Switzerland, removed Volkswagen from its stock option list, once it became known that Volkswagen had actively participated in the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners in China. -
EFGIC: Press Statement Regarding Media’s Coverage of Fabricated Reports from China’s Communist Party Mouthpiece
2004-01-03The claims put forth by Xinhua in this story follow a pattern of fabricated reports that have – under the orders of former Chinese leader Jiang Zemin – been faithfully churned out by China’s state-run media over the last four-plus years in an attempt to legitimise the persecution against Falun Gong, or at least dull the interest of would-be critics around the world. -
Irish Examiner Reports on Dublin Embassy Appeal Following Liu Chengjun's Death
2004-01-03Following the news of Liu Chengjun's death, on 31st December, Irish Falun Gong practitioners held a peaceful appeal outside the Chinese Embassy in Dublin. Like similar appeals around the world, they demanded those responsible for his death to be brought to trial and punished for their crimes.In an article, entitled China Protest, The Irish Examiner explained the reason for the appeal: