Falun Gong practitioners have accused the Australian Government of misrep-resenting
what they said about the shooting of one of their number, a 41-year-old Sydney
man, in South Africa.They have also claimed that a senior Australian envoy has
twice supported their version of events, but that the Foreign Affairs Department
will not apologise.
David Liang was shot in both feet late last month when
he was in South Africa to file lawsuits against visiting Chinese officials. He
has just returned to Australia.Leon Wang and William Wei were in the car with
him when he was shot.All three deny a statement from the department that, “Another
passenger in the car advised consular officials that he believed the shooting
to be a random event and not connectedto any Falun Gong activity.”Mr Wang
claimed that Australian consul Brian Garrington had not reported to his superiors
that any passenger had denied a Falun Gong link.”At least two times he said,
‘I didn’t report this’,” Mr Wang said yesterday.
The practitioners
had taken the matter up with Democrats Senator Natasha Stott Despoja and expected
her to take it up when and if Parliament resumed from August 3.
Posting
date: 27/Jul/2004
Original article date: 26/Jul/2004
Category: Media Report
