April 7, 2002

Four Chicago area Falun Gong [practitioners] have joined nearly 50 others in the first lawsuit to charge the Chinese government with harassing, beating and obstructing Falun Gong practitioners here in the United States.

Falun Gong, a practice that promotes spiritual discipline through exercise, has been a target of China for more than two years. Hundreds of people accused of practicing Falun Gong have died in the custody of the Chinese government and tens of thousands are being held in labor camps, [practitioners] say.

The civil lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday, charges the Chinese government with exporting its Falun Gong crackdown to its consulates in Chicago, New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Houston. The consulates carried out "a criminal campaign of violent repression and intimidation," according to the suit, filed under the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations statute, usually used against organized crime.

The government-run China Central Television also is named in the suit for producing negative programming about Falun Gong and distributing it throughout the United States.

Here in Chicago, Lin "Bill" Fang was harassed and beaten on two occasions outside the Chinese Consulate at 100 W. Erie, the suit charges.

Consulate officials in Chicago were not available for comment Saturday.

In July, while passing out literature in front of the consulate, Fang said two or three men came out of the consulate and approached him. "They grabbed my fliers and ripped them up," he said. In September, Fang was beaten and his camera was smashed while he was participating in a hunger strike across the street from the consulate.

Fang came to Chicago on a visa and is seeking political asylum.