(Clearwisdom.net) On the afternoon of July 13, 2004, several Falun Gong practitioners from the US, Australia, Germany, Canada, Taiwan, and Hong Kong held a press conference in front of the Pretoria Art Museum in the capital city of South Africa, and they announced that legal actions against Chinese heads of state have officially begun. Mr. Rudolf Jansen, the attorney for Falun Gong practitioners, Mr. John Nania, the spokesperson for Falun Gong practitioners, Ms. Jane Dai, a Falun Gong practitioner whose husband was tortured to death, and her daughter attended the conference. Chen Zhili, Chinese Communist Party State Councilor and former Minister of Education, is currently on a Chinese cultural tour of Africa that included a photo exhibit held inside the Pretoria Art Museum.
At the press conference, Mr. Rudolf said that he is currently investigating the details of the crime and also discussing the case with Falun Gong practitioners' attorneys in other countries. He said that the shooting incident and the CCP officials' involvement in the crime would be investigated, documented, and further investigation would be conducted on the shooting of Falun Gong practitioner Mr. David Liang on June 28. Right now, the South African police has listed the incident as "attempted murder" and turned it over to higher police officers. Major newspapers, TV stations and broadcast stations have made long reports on the incident.
Falun Gong spokesman John Nania gave a detailed account of how around 100 Falun Gong practitioners who were students or school faculty members were tortured to death during Chen Zhili's term as the Minister of Education. He also pointed out that legal actions against Chen Zhili are being processed.
Ms. Jane Dai from Australia said that her husband was tortured to death three years ago because he refused to give up practicing Dafa. Now her friend David Liang was injured from the gun shooting. She went to the press conference because she wanted to help prevent these things from happening in the future.
At the same time, several big Chinese and English media based in Western countries were prevented from entering the photo exhibit held inside the Pretoria Art Museum by several un-identified persons who might have been hired by the Chinese Embassy in South Africa. These media attended the press conference held by Falun Gong practitioners on the same day.
When the reporter and photographer from Pretoria News, the largest media in Pretoria, tried to enter the museum with an invitation after attending the press conference, seven or eight Chinese people who claimed to be from Fujian Province and refused to speak English, were suspected of being hired by the Chinese consulate, and refused to let them in. With intervention from South African police, they were able to enter the museum. Ms. Cindy Zeilhofer from Pretoria News said that she could understand the difficulty Falun Gong practitioners in Mainland China are in, looking at it from the unreasonable action of the Chinese heads of state on South African soil.