August 18, 2002
(Clearwisdom.net)
Sixteen Falun Gong practitioners, including four Swiss nationals, were declared "guilty on all counts" by the court in Hong Kong. This is a serious attack on the democratic rights of the "One country, two systems" policy and its implementation as pledged by the Chinese Government when Hong Kong was returned in 1997. The prosecution of the peaceful protesters clearly demonstrates the tightening grip of the Jiang regime on the former British colony. Jiang is determined to impose his hate propaganda campaign and inhumane persecution on the free world.
People who are being persecuted by such a dictator could easily be:
Under such unjust circumstances, what will you do?
Erich Bachmann from Kreuzlingen, Simone Schlegel, Lam Duy Quoc and RolandáIsenschmid from Bern listened only to their hearts. After learning that millions of Chinese who practice Falun Gong, a traditional, peaceful, altruisticáand non-political cultivation practice were being brutally persecuted, and that the Jiang regime had intensified the suppression and given the order to shoot practitioners at will, the above 4 practitioners felt they had to do something.
On March 14, having been refused entry into Mainland China, they went to appeal in front of the Chinese Liaison Office in Hong Kong. Joining them in this peaceful actionáwere eleven local Hong Kong practitioners and one New Zealand practitioner.
After enduring two long months of an absurd and protracted trial, they received a guilty verdict for obstructing the public walkway and attacking the police.
How can a demonstration that took up only 7 square meters of a 140 square meter street obstruct the street? This prosecution was really ridiculous and a matter that should have been resolved within a day or two. Instead it was dragged on for two months, obviously to deliberately burden the accused with extra legal and other expenses.
Who actually blocked the traffic? Wouldn't it rather have been the 60 or more police officers that charged at the quietly meditating demonstrators, hitting and dragging them, and applied acupressure, inflicting intense pain without leaving any marks? To be more precise, wasn't it the Chinese Liaison Office conniving with the Hong Kong Government and trumped up the "obstructing the walk path" charge to arrest the 16 Falun Gong practitioners? As shortly after, the Hong Kong police dug up and put up barricades on the very spot that the practitioners held the peaceful appeal, and soon put up wooden fences outside the Chinese Liaison Office where Falun Gong practitioners used to hold their daily appeal.
To democratic Hong Kong, the relentless pressure Beijing applied to this trial is a farce and an insult. After listening to several weeks of irrelevant minutiae, the judge consistently sided with the police's account, and reproached the defendants during cross-examination. Their relevant supporting testimony was also ignored.
This disturbing trial has aroused worldwide attention and protests, including hunger strike appeals outside Chinese embassies, silent marches, and parliamentary action.
The United Kingdom and the UnitedáStates governments showed deep concerns about the political pressure applied to Hong Kong's judicial system.
The Canadian minister, Svend Robinson, said: "Canada must protest vigorously against the politically motivated trial of the 16ápractitioners of Falun Gong."
Seven European ministers wrote to Falun Gong practitioners: "Thanks to your non-violent efforts, more organizations and Governments will support you."
The Transnational Radical Party affirmed its "total commitment to Falun Gong," and support for the threatened democracy and freedom in Hong Kong.
Many human rights and religious organizations (such as Pax Christi and the World Lutheran Federation) have also similarly condemned this judicial farce.
The practitioners will appeal the guilty verdict
The Falun Gong practitioners will lodge an appeal. They take this action not only for the innocence of Falun Gong, but for China, Hong Kong, and the entire world, and for all our freedoms and for the future of all; as tomorrow, others could risk the erosion of their rights.
We hope the Swiss authorities and the Swiss people will embrace the ever-widening movement of support to encourage the exemplary action for human rights of the four Swiss Falun Gong practitioners.