Reuters English News Service
(C) Reuters Limited 2002.
HONG KONG, Aug 6 (Reuters) – Hong Kong police did not persecute the 16 Falun
Gong followers charged with obstruction, prosecutors said on Tuesday towards
the end of Hong Kong’s first trial of members of the controversial spiritual
movement.
Though banned in mainland China, the movement is legal in Hong Kong, which
was promised a high degree of autonomy when it returned to Chinese rule on
July 1, 1997.
The local government’s decision to prosecute the group, which includes four
Swiss nationals, has raised questions about freedom in the territory, five
years into Chinese rule.
“The allegation by the defence that police were persecuting them…was
unfounded and unsubstantiated,” Kevin Zervos, lawyer for the prosecution,
said in his final submission. “This is not harassment, not persecution.”
The 16 were charged with causing a public obstruction during a protest
outside Beijing’s main representative office in Hong Kong on March 14.
They were also charged with potentially causing public obstruction by
unfurling a banner with the words “(Chinese President) Jiang Zemin, Stop
Killing.”
Nine also faced a third charge of wilfully obstructing police when they were
forcibly removed by officers during the protest. Three of the 16 have also
been charged with assaulting police.
All pleaded not guilty to all the charges.
A POLITICAL CASE?
Falun Gong followers say the arrest and charges constitute persecution by
the local government under pressure from Jiang.
But Zervos said that the charges concerned only breaches of the law and the
arrest of the Falun Gong followers was lawful.
He said the defendants, far from being persecuted, had been intentionally
provocative to attract publicity, abusing policemen verbally as well as
being physically aggressive.
“As a large group they were an obstruction and a person would be obstructed
by their presence,” the lawyer said.
He also accused the defendants of giving false testimony, making false
accusations, and tailoring evidence to suit their case. Defence lawyers are
due to make their closing submissions on Wednesday.
Public obstruction carries a maximum fine of HK$5,000 (US$641) or three
months in jail. Assaulting a police officer carries a fine of HK$5,000 and a
six month prison term.
“Under the pressure exerted by Jiang Zemin, the Hong Kong government has
started acts of suppression on Falun Gong,” Kan Kung-cheung, a local leader
of the movement, told reporters after Tuesday’s hearing. “Under such
circumstances, peacefully protesting adherents were unreasonably arrested by
police.”
The Falun Gong movement, which fuses meditative exercises and elements of
Taoism and Buddhism, spooked the Chinese leadership in 1999 when thousands
of its followers gathered in front of the leadership compound in Beijing to
press for official recognition.
Beijing banned it as an xxx a few months later and has since imposed
a harsh crackdown. Falun Gong claims that more than 1,600 followers have
died as a result of abuse in police custody or detention centres.
The group’s protests, news conferences and exhibitions in Hong Kong have
been left largely alone and are seen as a gauge of political and religious
freedom in the territory.
But political observers say the charges have coincided with what appears to
be a hardening of resolve by the territory’s leader Tung Chee-hwa to get
tough on Beijing’s critics.
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