On the second day in the new year of 2004, more than 50 Falun Dafa practitioners from around Australia gathered in front of the Chinese Embassy in Canberra and held a press conference and a memorial to raise awareness of the brutal torture and subsequent death of Chengjun Liu. They called for an end to the persecution and to bring those responsible including the former Chinese leader Jiang Zemin to justice. Reporters from AAP and the main local news station, WIN TV, Sound of Hope Ratio Network, attended the event. There was a thorough report on the local news WINTV in the evening, which included a photo of Chengjun Liu and the details of his death as well as the overall persecution of Falun Dafa.
It was mid-summer in Canberra today, the hottest day so far and the bright display in the sun was a righteous and powerful scene. There were banners in English and Chinese stating ‘Tortured to Death the Morning After Christmas’ and also banners of ‘Falun Dafa is Good’ and posters telling the facts of the persecution.
Falun Dafa spokesperson in Australia Mr John Deller said, “Chengjun Liu died trying to let the Chinese people know the truth of Falun Dafa and expose the Jiang regime’s systematic cover up of their crimes and human rights atrocities.” He praised Mr Liu’s courage, “to expose the atrocities carried out against Falun Gong practitioners so Chinese people could see it for themselves”. He considered that, “In most countries, Liu would be applauded as a human rights hero who peacefully defended his faith and publicly exposed Jiang’s gross crimes against humanity. In China, however, those who carry out Jiang’s orders to ‘eradicate’ Falun Gong branded Liu an outlaw and then tortured him to death. Chengjun Liu is one of more than 850 recorded death cases, all victims of Jiang’s genocidal policy of eradication.”
“Today, Jiang Zemin is facing lawsuits for genocide in more than 10 countries around the world. Most recently, on 26 December 2003 in South Korea, the Seoul Local Court formally accepted a Genocide Lawsuit against Jiang Zemin and Luo Gan brought by Korean Falun Dafa Association.”
“Today, we remember Chengjun Liu and the efforts and sacrifice he made to arouse the conscience of the Chinese people and let them know the truth. We hope that more people can awaken to condemn the Jiang regime’s violence and brutality against peaceful Falun Gong practitioners who simply wish to persist in their belief of Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance.”
Then there was a one-minute silence for Mr Chengjun Liu.
 |
 |
Ms Li Ying spoke about her personal experience of the persecution in China. She was detained for brain washing for 3 months in 2001 because of her practice of Falun Gong, for which she had a hunger strike. In October 2002 she was detained again in a labour camp for two years for no given reasons. She joined her fiancé in Sydney at the end of November 2003 as a result of the help from the Austrlaian government. Li Ying also calls for help of any form from all kind people to stop the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners in China.
Dr Songfa Liu, spokesman for the Australia branch of World Organization to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong (WOIPFG), said that after they got to know the news that Mr Chengjun Liu died of torture on day after Christmas, WOIPFG filed an urgent case for investigation and issued two investigation notices on 29 Dec. 2003. They will thoroughly investigate all those responsible for Mr Liu’s death and persecution of other Falun Gong practitioners at different levels of the Chinese authorities and bring them to justice without hesitation.
At the end John Deller thanked the police for their assistance and cooperation and mentioned if the Embassy staff can hear this message or come to hear about it that we are not against the Chinese government nor are we against the Embassy staff and we do not interfere with the Embassy activities. We simply want the persecution of innocent Falun Gong practitioners to stop and for Jiang to be brought to justice.
Many Chinese tourists visiting the Embassy during the memorial were surprised to see so many Falun Dafa practitioners and some took information regarding the persecution. In particular they were very surprised to see and hear several western and Chinese practitioners singing the song of “Falun Dafa is good” after the memorial. Some even said, “See, foreigners are also singing ‘Falun Dafa is good'”.
Posting date: 3/Jan/2004
Original article date: 2/Jan/2004
Category: Australian News
