Letter from Member of the National Assembly of Quebec Henri-Francis Gautrin to China's Ambassador to Canada Concerning Falun Gong Practitioners Detained in China

(Clearwisdom.net)

Verdun, November 22^nd 2002

H.E. Mei Ping

Ambassador of the People's Republic of China to Canada

515, St. Patrick Street

Ottawa, Ontario K1N 5H3

RE: Mingli Lin, Detained Falun Gong practitioner

Sir:

I am member of the National Assembly of Quebec for the riding of Verdun, located in the city of Montreal. Although I do not have the habit of getting involved in matters concerning external affairs and international relations, the gravity of the facts that were brought to my attention by one of my constituents concerning the gentleman whose name is mentioned above, and your country's unjustified and brutal repression of Falun Gong practitioners, warrants the present intervention.

Mr. Lin was first arrested in 1999 after it became know to Chinese authorities that he was a Falun Gong practitioner. He was once again arrested by local police in 2000 and 2001. On the first occasion, he was detained for one month on fabricated charges, and on the second, he was forced to enter a "brain washing" centre and asked to renounce his belief in Falun Gong. Because he refused to renounce his faith, he was detained for three months. Only a few days after his release, namely on April 23, 2001, he was once again arrested and taken away from his family. Although no formal charges were laid against him, he was sentenced without trial to two years of forced labour. I am told that Mr. Mingli Lin is presently detained in Shanghai Third Labour and Education Center (under 4^th squadron, 5^th brigade) for having defended the principles of Falun Gong.

As you can imagine, his family as well as Falun Gong practitioners from around the world are stunned and outraged to see that your state continues to sponsor a general crackdown and disinformation campaign against people like Mr. Lin, who peacefully apply for themselves the principles of "Truthfulness, Compassion and Forbearance" through their involvement with Falun Gong.

Last spring, the National Assembly of Quebec adopted a motion supporting the Canadian government's concern regarding your country's treatment of Falun Gong practitioners. Being relatively well informed of the plight of Chinese Falun Gong sympathisers, I did not hesitate to vote for this motion in the hope that our non-partisan message would help in eliminating state sponsored persecution in China.

As such, I respectfully urge you to inform your government of our concern regarding its treatment of Falun Gong practitioners. I also call upon your government to release Mr. Lin and return him to his family as soon as possible.

Thanking you in advance for your consideration, I remain.

Yours truly,

Henri-Francis Gautrin

M.N.A. for Verdun