By Elias Hazou
HUMAN rights activists yesterday launched a civil suit against a senior
Chinese official on a one-day visit to the island, charging him with crimes
against humanity and genocide.
The activists, practitioners of Falun Gong, staged a protest outside the
Presidential Palace and the House of Representatives building, and later
held a news conference outlining their complaints against the Chinese
government.
Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is a practice of meditation and
exercises that originated in China and has some 100 million followers in 60
countries. The Chinese government has banned it since 1999, persecuting its
adherents.
The Falun Gong information service says it has verified over 1,600 deaths of
practitioners plus 100,000 sentenced to forced labor without trial. The
movement also claims thousands have been abused in mental hospitals, or
detained, harassed, sacked from jobs and universities. Activists in Nicosia yesterday tried to hand the lawsuit personally to Wu
Guanzheng, labeled as one of the key leaders of the persecution campaign.
Guanzheng is a member of the Chinese Communist Party Politburo Standing
Committee and governor of the Shandong Province. He is charged by the
activists with torture, genocide and crimes against humanity.
The activists are represented in Cyprus by human rights lawyer Laris
Vrahimis, who said the lawsuit was being filed on behalf of a victim who was
allegedly tortured and brainwashed for months on end; the man is now living
in Canada.
Also attending the news conference was Jane Dai, the widow of a Falun Gong
practitioner killed after his arrest in China.
Fighting back tears and clutching her three-year-old daughter, Dai said her
husband died because of his adherence to the Falun Gong principles of truth,
compassion and forbearance.
“My family has been torn apart now,” she said, “and many of my friends are
being persecuted for the same reason.”
Dai told the Cyprus Mail that Falun Gong was not a political movement
protesting in general about human rights violations in China or the lack of
democracy. She said revenge for her husband’s death was not a motive for
her.
“This is a peaceful movement, and all I want is for us to be able to
practice Falun Gong again. that’s all.”
Dai, an Australian citizen, explained that her husband was arrested in 2001
when he went to Beijing to hand a letter to the Chinese government saying
that “Falun Dafa is good”. Her husband was apparently beaten to death while
in custody, and his body dumped in a field. After considerable effort,
Australian officials tracked him down and arranged transport of his remains
to Australia.
“When I heard the news of his death, my hair went white overnight,” said
Dai. “And the same kind of pain has been inflicted on millions of other
people.”
The movement has filed international lawsuits against perpetrators of crimes
against humanity in several countries, including Spain, Finland, Iceland,
Australia, France, Switzerland and Belgium.
But the biggest catch would be former President of China Jiang Zemin, whom
the movement accuses of spearheading their persecution through the infamous
“610 Office”. In October 2002 a lawsuit was launched in the United States
against Zemin for his alleged campaign of genocide against Falun Gong.
“This civil lawsuit action in Cyprus is just one more step in our struggle
for justice. we are keeping our hopes up,” said LingNan Wu, another
activist.
She explained that the Chinese government probably felt threatened by Falun
Gong’s enormous popularity. “Anything that gets that big in China is a cause
for concern for the government.” Another reason, she added, could be Falun
Gong’s teaching of telling the truth, saying the Communist government would
clearly be apprehensive of such a philosophy.
http://www.cyprus-mail.com/news/main.php?id=11643&cat_id=1
Posting date: 30/Oct/2003
Original article date: 29/Oct/2003
Category: Media Report
