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“Iceland has a legal and moral duty to prosecute forcefully and bring
to justice persons that are guilty of systematic violations of international
human rights”
— Ragnar Adalsteinsson,
Advocate to the Icelandic
Supreme Court
and renowned human
rights attorney
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LONDON (FDI) — For the past four years, the “6-10 Office”
in China — described by the United States Congress as an agency charged
with “overseeing the persecution of Falun Gong members through organized
brainwashing, torture, and murder” — has been the primary instrument for
implementing a policy of genocide towards Falun Gong practitioners. (about
“6-10 Office”)
Today in a criminal lawsuit, the man in charge of the “6-10
Office”, Luo Gan, who is on a two-day visit to Iceland, has been charged
with crimes of torture, genocide and crimes against humanity. The lawsuit
was filed September 8 with the State Criminal Prosecutor in Iceland, Mr.
Bogi Nilsson (+354-5301600).
The complaint is based on the United Nations Convention
Against Torture, which Iceland signed in November 1996. As a signatory to
the Convention Against Torture, Icelandic Courts are authorized to hear
cases which allege violation of its terms.
Plaintiffs in the lawsuit include Falun Gong practitioners
from Australia, Canada, the United States, the UK, Italy, Holland, Denmark
and Ireland. They are represented by Mr. Ragnar Adalsteinsson, who is an
Advocate to the Icelandic Supreme Court and a renowned human rights attorney.
“Iceland has a legal and moral duty to prosecute forcefully
and bring to justice persons that are guilty of systematic violations of
international human rights,” says Mr. Adalsteinsson, “including violations
of the United Nations Convention against Torture and other Cruel and Degrading
Treatment or Punsishment and the United Nations Convention on the Prevention
and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.”
The Icelandic lawsuit is the twelfth international lawsuit
in nine countries to emerge in the past two years against high-ranking Chinese
officials or government bodies for their roles in persecuting Falun Gong.
(news
– website)
It is the fourth international lawsuit to target Luo Gan
and/or the “6-10 Office” he oversees.
Last month, one of the lawyers who prosecuted Chilean dictator,
Augusto Pinochet, filed a criminal lawsuit in Belgium against Luo Gan, former
Chinese leader, Jiang Zemin and one other senior-ranking Chinese official
on behalf of Falun Gong practitioners. The lawsuit charges the three men
with genocide, torture and crimes against humanity. (news)
In December 2002, a criminal lawsuit was filed in France
charging the former Vice-Premier of China, Mr. Lanqing Li — who was the
acting administrative head for the “6-10 Office” — with crimes of torture.
In July 2003, the French criminal court began legal proceedings on the case.
(news)
In October 2002, a class-action lawsuit was filed in a
U.S. District Court charging former Chinese leader, Jiang Zemin, and the
“6-10 Office” with torture, genocide and crimes against humanity. (news)
Luo Gan and the “6-10 Office” — A Gestapo for Falun Gong
According to an internal Chinese Communist Party document
dated June 7, 1999, in a speech to the Chinese Communist Party Central Committee,
Jiang ordered the Committee to set up an office for the “leadership group”
and named it “the Head Office for Handling the Falun Gong Issue,” also called
the “6-10 Office,” named for the date it was officially founded. (about)
Jiang personally appointed three chiefs of the “6-10 Office,” one of whom
was Luo Gan.
The “6-10 Office” became a well-organized and independent
system, spanning from the Central Government to the local governments, and
having absolute power over each level of administration in the Party, as
well as the political and judiciary branches.
In an Aug. 05, 2001, article from the Washington Post,
a three-prong tactic consisting of “violence,” “high-pressure propaganda
campaign,” and “brainwashing classes” was cited by a government official
as the approach used by the Chinese government to eradicate Falun Gong.
“Each aspect of the campaign is critical,” the Post quoted the official.
“Pure violence doesn’t work. Just [brainwashing] doesn’t work
either. And none of it would be working if the propaganda hadn’t started
to change the way the general public thinks. You need all three.”
The Post article went on to say, “In January, Beijing’s
secret 610 office, an interagency task force leading the charge against
Falun Gong, ordered all neighborhood committees, state institutions and
companies to begin using [brainwashing classes], government sources said.
No Falun Gong member is supposed to be spared. The most active members are
sent directly to labor camps where they are first ‘broken’ by
beatings and other torture.”
According to sources in China and thousands of testimonies
from victims, the “6-10 Office” implemented a similar three-prong directive
given by Jiang in the later part of 2001 to all levels of government:
- Destroy Falun Gong practitioners physically through systematic, state-sanctioned
forced-labor, torture and killings. This also included mental torture
through widespread usage of brainwashing facilities, forced conversion,
and incarceration in mental hospitals where many were injected with nerve-damaging
drugs. - Destroy Falun Gong practitioners’ reputations through a worldwide
media campaign to demonize Falun Gong and falsely depict its practitioners
as dangerous ‘cult’ members and a menace to society. - Destroy Falun Gong practitioners financially, which, in a Communist
nation where the government can exercise significant control over employment
and housing, allowed Jiang to deny Falun Gong practitioners basic necessities
for living, such as salaries/pensions, employment, education, housing,
etc. in addition to suffering widespread extortion, confiscation of property
and state-enforced fines when detained by police.
As vice-director of the “6-10 Office” Luo personally inspected
Political and Judiciary branches as well as labour camps around the country
to ensure all levels of government implement Jiang Zemin’s three-prong
directive for handling Falun Gong practitioners
According to the United Nations Human Rights Commission’s
2001 Report, Luo Gan had intimate knowledge of the forms of torture
and abuse used against Falun Gong practitioners in labour camps: “In October
2000,” the UN report states, “prison guards in the Masanjia prison in Shenyang,
Liaoning province, allegedly stripped 18 female Falun Dafa practitioners
and put them into cells containing male convicted criminals. It is reported
that Luo Gan, a high-ranking Communist Party official, was aware of the
incident. The 18 women are said to remain in prison.”
Lawsuit Plaintiffs: Victims of Severe Torture and Killings
From eight countries across Europe, North America and Australia,
the experience of the plaintiffs in the Icelandic lawsuit illustrate the
brutality carried out by Luo and the “6-10 Office.”
40-year-old Ms. Jane Dai, a plaintiff from Australia, first
read about her husband’s death in a news report on the Internet. He
was tortured to death by police in China for refusing to renounce his Falun
Gong practice, and his partially decomposed body was later found in an abandoned
hut. Ms. Dai struggled for months to obtain her late-husband’s ashes
from Chinese authorities and has spent the last two years touring the world
with her young daughter raising awareness about the persecution that killed
her husband.
Graduate student, Zhao Ming — a plaintiff who studies
at Ireland’s Trinity College — was detained by Chinese authorities
in 2000 after he returned to China for the holidays. Because he practices
Falun Gong, Zhao was severely tortured in Tuanhe Labour camp located just
outside Beijing. Due to international pressure, Zhao was finally released
in 2002.
47-year-old Ms. Wang Yuzhi is a plaintiff who had been
a successful businesswoman in northeast China before she was imprisoned
in the notoriously violent Wanjia Labour Camp because she practices Falun
Gong. After months of prolonged torture and abuse, Labour Camp officials
feared Ms. Wang would die in their custody and so released her to avoid
responsibility. Soon after, Ms. Wang was able to escape China and now lives
in Vancouver, Canada. After making her story public, her family members
were rounded up in China.
For more information about Luo Gan, Falun Gong, and international
efforts to end the persecution of Falun Gong in China, please visit www.faluninfo.net.
Contact information: Icelandic Attorney Ragnar Adalsteinsson:
+354-6961306
Falun Dafa InfoCenter — Europe: Li Shao: +44-7810554394;
North America: Levi Browde: +1-914-720-0963
——————————————————
Background
Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa (about),
is a practice of meditation and exercises with teachings based on the universal
principle of “Truthfulness-Compassion-Tolerance.” It is a practice that
was taught in private for thousands of years before being made public in
1992 by Mr. Li Hongzhi. Falun Gong has roots in traditional Chinese culture,
but it is distinct and separate from other practices such as the religions
of Buddhism and Taoism. Since its introduction in 1992, it quickly spread
by word of mouth throughout China, and is now practiced in over 50
countries.
With government estimates of as many as 100
million practicing Falun Gong, China’s President Jiang Zemin outlawed
the peaceful practice in July 1999 (report),
fearful of anything touching the hearts and minds of more citizens than
the Communist Party. Unable to crush the spirit of millions who had experienced
improved health and positive life changes from Falun Gong, Jiang’s
regime has intensified its propaganda campaign to turn public opinion against
the practice while quietly imprisoning, torturing and even murdering those
who practice it.
The Falun Dafa Information Centre has verified details
of 780 deaths (reports
/ sources)
since the persecution of Falun Gong in China began in 1999. In October 2000,
however, Government officials inside China reported that the actual death
toll was well over 1,600, while expert sources estimate that figure to be
much higher. Hundreds
of thousands have been detained, with more than 100,000
being sentenced to forced labour camps, typically without trial.
Posting date: 9/Sep/2003
Original article date: 8/Sep/2003
Category: World News
