by Greek Falun Dafa Practitioners
European and Greek Falun Dafa
Associations in conjunction with International Advocates for Justice (IAFJ), sponsored
a press conference to celebrate the Olympic ideal, enshrined in the wisdom of
Socrates, Lao Tze and many others. As articulated in the poetry of Pindar, the
Olympic spirit is best expressed as harmony between the Olympic athlete, nature
and the gods. The Olympic victors were not merely physically fit athletes, but
also spiritually sound in mind, heart and spirit. The similarity between the Olympic
spirit of balance and harmony and the principles of Falun Dafa were but one of
the many themes articulated by a panel of seven, which included, Falun Dafa Association
spokespersons Man-Yan Wenxin and Peter Jauhal, Attorneys Nikos Livos, Stavros
Tsakyrakis, and Terri Marsh, as well Falun Gong practitioners Zhao Ming, Jane
Dai, and Chris Cominos.
 Press Conference |  Three Plaintiffs |  Many media attended the Press Conference |
 Plaintiffs |  Lawyers from Greece |  Lawyers & Plaintiffs |
As Peter Jahaul, the moderator of
the panel noted, Greece is best known as the cradle of western thought and civilization,
as manifest in its architecture, sculpture, drama, philosophy, science and history.
As Attorney Terri Marsh noted, the Olympic spirit has been well preserved in Greece,
as evidenced by the respect shown at the 2004 Greek Olympic Games for religious
freedom and diversity of religious belief.
However, as Attorney Stavros
Tsakyrakis, among others, noted, under the Jiang regime, China has not respected
the religious freedom of its citizens, be they Tibetans, Catholics or practitioners
of Falun Gong. As the co-drafter of a landmark criminal case filed with the D.A.
office that very morning, Attorney Tsakyrakis noted that the criminal complaint
is based not on allegations, but on fact. As noted by the third party reports,
also included as exhibits in the filed complaint, the persecution of Falun Gong
in China is a fact, Tsakyrakis told an audience of newspaper and magazine journalists,
seated together in the elegant Athens Plaza Hotel. As United Nations Reports,
Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch reports disclose, thousands upon
thousands of persons have been tortured for their belief in the principles and
practice of Falun Gong in China.
While no one has yet been held accountable
for such crimes in China, the complaint filed in Athens charged the founder of
the persecution, Mr. Jiang as well as his accomplices, Luo Gan, and Li Lanqing
(and several unnamed Chinese principals) with torture and cruel and inhuman treatment.
Attorney Livos, co-drafter of the complaint and one of the most renowned criminal
attorneys in Greece, characterized the case as a landmark case, a first of its
kind, in which Greek citizens tortured in China are asking a Greek court to hold
the perpetrators accountable under a Greek criminal statute that prohibits torture.
The severity of the persecution was underscored by Zhao Ming, as he described
the incessant brutal methods of torture deployed by the police, and other security
personnel. A video of the torture exhibit displayed in Chicago during the seventh
Circuit Jiang Zemin appeal, played in the background, as Zhao Ming reminded the
audience of the gruesome realities of the persecution. That such inhumanities
continue is unacceptable, Mr Zhao stated as he urged the audience to report the
news of the persecution to the rest of the world. Jane Dai reinforced Zhao Ming’s
message as she and her daughter told the journalists of the extrajudicial killing
of her husband, for no other reason, than his insistence on his and others’ rights
to freedom of belief and conscience in China.
Attorney Marsh, also a professor
of Greek poetry and philosophy, noted that many wise men, including the Greek
historian Thucydides noted that when men are not persuaded by polite conversation
to desist in their killing and torture of their fellow men, we are of course compelled
by moral principle to turn to a court of law for a just and equitable resolution
of the situation.
Chris Cominos, a Falun Dafa practitioner and Greek citizen,
who went to Tiananmen Square to appeal to the government and people of China the
treatment of Falun Gong in China, concluded the panel presentation by a return
to the Olympic theme when he stated that we can only hope that when Greece passes
the Olympic torch to China in 2008, it is to a China free of religious oppression.
Or, as stated by Chris Cominos and Terri Marsh, to China proper, a China which
is true to its original self.
Posting date: 7/Aug/2004
Original
article date: 6/Aug/2004
Category: World News
