Cuiying Zhang
www.zhangcuiying.org
December 9, 2004
Dear
Sir/Madam
My name is Zhang Cuiying. I am an Australian citizen and an artist
of traditional Chinese painting. I am also a Falun Gong practitioner and the individual
who lodged a lawsuit in the Supreme Court of NSW on November 15, 2004 against
the former Chinese president Jiang Zemin for genocide, torture and crimes against
humanity.
It seems that this lawsuit has caused some frenzied reaction from
the Chinese authorities. It was reported in The Australian that the Australian
ambassador to China, Alan Thomas has been called to the Chinese Foreign Ministry
in Beijing on several occasions since my filing of the lawsuit, and China’s ambassador
to Australia, Fu Ying, has repeatedly visited the Department of Foreign Affairs
and Trade in Canberra to expressing concern over the case at various levels. The
Australian reported one source as saying, "They can’t understand why the
Government can’t just stop it from going ahead, like it would in China."
Why
are they so fearful of the lawsuit? What are they trying to hide?
I’m writing
this letter to explain why I filed this lawsuit and I sincerely ask you to act
with conscience and stand up to condemn the gross injustice and severe violations
of human rights that have occurred during the five-year-long persecution of millions
of innocent Falun Gong practitioners and the suppression of people of other spiritual
beliefs in China.
First, I would like to tell you a bit more about myself,
since my experiences are part of the reasons I am filing this lawsuit.
Some
years ago, I began suffering from a severe form of arthritis and was almost crippled
with constant pain in all my joints. I could not even pick up the brush and paint.
I sought all kinds of treatments in both western medicine and traditional Chinese
medicine, but with little effect. I was in total despair and could not see any
hope in life, until one day I was introduced to Falun Gong exercises. I learned
the five sets of exercises and began to live by the universal principles of Truth-Compassion-Forbearance
in my daily life. I began to feel better each day and within two months of practising
Falun Gong, all the pain and symptoms disappeared completely. I was overjoyed
with my regained health and an inner peace that I had never experienced before,
not to mention my happiness in being able to pick up my brushes and paint again.
Falun Gong practice not only helped me regain health from being a semi-paralysed
person with severe arthritis, but also opened up my wisdom and talent, which has
enabled me to achieve amazing success in my career. In the last few years, I have
held numerous art exhibitions around the world and my paintings have received
high praise and honour from governments and media in over 40 countries.
A
terrible thing happened in July 1999 when China’s former leader Jiang Zemin started
an all-out persecution against millions of Falun Gong practitioners in China,
due to Jiang Zemin’s extreme jealousy of the immense popularity of the practice,
and his unfounded fear of loosing personal power over the control of the minds
of the Chinese people. All this despite the fact that Falun Gong focuses only
on one’s improvement of mind and body and has no political agenda whatsoever.
When I heard the news of the persecution, I was extremely sad and could not
understand why such a peaceful and beneficial meditation practice was persecuted.
In the face of such gross injustice, I decided to go back to China to tell the
government that the persecution was wrong, and share my personal experiences.
I felt that I must speak a word of justice for Falun Gong, even though I was aware
that it was extremely dangerous to do so. I went back to China several times and
was detained four times. The last time I was jailed for eight months from March
to November 2000 at No. 1 Shangmeilin Detention Centre in Shenzhen, during which
time I suffered all kinds of brutal torture. I was beaten so often that bruises
covered my entire body and the pain made me unable to sleep. I was forced to sleep
on the concrete floor in the cold winter, with the toilet right in front of my
head. In order to further torment me, the guards forced me to share the same cell
with a mental patient. At the same time, we were forced to work over ten hours
every day, seven days a week, without a single day of rest. For eight months,
I was detained in a dark, damp prison cell filled with a foul stench and was not
allowed to go outside for fresh air. Such adverse condition caused me to suffer
severe skin infection. The skin all over my body began to rot and fester. Since
I refused to give up Falun Gong practice, the guards put me into the quarters
for male prisoners to humiliate me. My physical condition deteriorated and my
hair fell out in clumps.
Touched by my suffering, a kind-hearted employee
in the jail sent an anonymous letter to my husband, telling him where I was and
asking him to try to rescue me as soon as possible since my life was in danger.
It was only due to the intervention of the Australian consulate and with the help
of the Australian Government that I was released after eight months of suffering
in the detention centre.
Although I regained my freedom, I could not forget
the tens of thousands of my fellow practitioners in China who have been and still
are suffering much more brutal persecution than I experienced; I could not forget
the thousands of innocent people who were tortured to death simply because they
believed in the principles of Truth-Compassion-Forbearance, leaving behind them
their elderly parents and their young children who have no one else to care for
them; I could not forget the heart-rending screams of fellow practitioners, men
and women, elderly and young, when they were so savagely tortured at the hands
of the police under Jiang Zemin’s directive: Beating [Falun Gong] to death is
nothing; it is counted as suicide; no need to check out the identity; cremate
[the body] immediately.
Martin Luther King, Jr., the famous leader of
the Civil Rights Movement in America, once said, "Injustice anywhere is a
threat to justice everywhere."
This persecution brought on by Jiang
Zemin against Falun Gong practitioners is in essence a persecution against the
whole of humanity and people all over the world who love peace, advocate justice
and righteousness and abide by sincerity and faith. It is definitely not "an
internal issue of China", but a matter that concerns the interests of us
all.
It is for upholding justice that I’m taking Jiang Zemin to court for
his grievous violations of human rights and crimes against humanity.
For
years, we have been clarifying the facts of the persecution to the Australian
Government and the Australian people, urging our government to act with conscience,
to uphold justice and to help stop the persecution, yet to our great disappointment,
our government has chosen to give in to China’s authoritarian regime and has taken
a soft line approach on the horrific human rights abuses in China, with the excuse
that they believed that the bilateral dialogues behind closed doors was more effective,
even when the reality was showing just the opposite.
The obvious reason
for our government’s stand is their concern over "economic gains". While
I can fully appreciate that the government is trying to bring more economic benefits
to Australia, I do not feel that economic gains should be obtained at the expense
of sacrificing our fundamental values and consciences and compromising justice
and basic human rights.
Australia is a beautiful democratic country with
a fine tradition of standing by justice. The government and MPs represent the
Australian people and therefore have tremendous responsibilities to our nation
and to the future of our people, not only in bringing in economic benefits, but
more importantly, in keeping our fine tradition of upholding justice and in defending
the fundamental human rights that the whole human race is entitled to have.
Jiang
Zemin does not represent China, does not represent the Chinese people, and he
does not represent even the Chinese Government. He is a downright dictator who
has committed monstrous crimes against humanity. To date, 46 lawsuits against
Jiang Zemin and his followers have been filed in 26 countries for the crimes of
genocide, torture and crimes against humanity.
Many thanks for your time
and consideration.
Yours sincerely,
Zhang Cuiying
Posting date: 9/Dec/2004
Original article date: 9/Dec/2004
Category: Australian News
