(Clearwisdom.net) Denmark's second largest city Aarhus is considering severing its sister city relationship with China's Harbin City. The reason is the fact that forced labor camps in Harbin City have perpetrated a large-scale, cruel persecution against Falun Gong practitioners and the allegation that these forced labor camps and hospitals have harvested organs from living Falun Gong practitioners. Recently, a leading national daily newspaper "Jyllandsposten" carried a statement submitted to the Aarhus City Council, entitled "The atrocities perpetrated in Aarhus' sister city--Harbin." The statement was made by Mr. Christoffer Brekne, chairman of the Network for Human Rights in China.
On January 23, 2007, the Network for Human Rights in China sent a letter to the mayor of Aarhus City, Mr. Nicolai Wammen, to call on him to freeze cultural exchange with Aarhus' sister city Harbin until the Harbin city authorities stop the cruel torture and killing of Falun Gong practitioners in the forced labor camps and detention centers in Harbin. We were pleased to learn that the mayor has taken this case seriously and asked the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to investigate into this matter, and that many City Councilors are also concerned about this case.
It is an undeniable fact that the Chinese Communist regime has perpetrated the atrocities of genocidal persecution against Falun Gong practitioners. Over seventy million Chinese citizens, the official figure of Falun Gong practitioners released by the Chinese authorities in 1998, are the direct targets of the persecution in the past eight years. Hundreds of thousands of innocent people were illegally arrested and subjected to cruel torture, and many people were forced to leave their home and become destitute. As of today, 3,013 people have been confirmed to be tortured or persecuted to death. Nonetheless, many experts agree that the actual death toll is far higher than the figure released by the Chinese regime. It is estimated that the figure may be as high as tens of thousands. The persecution has been extensively reported by media around the world and can be confirmed by the archives of the United Nations, the U.S. Department of State, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and other human rights organizations.
Harbin is a major city in Heilongjiang Province, in which the death toll resulting from the persecution of Falun Gong in Heilongjiang ranked as number one in the country. Harbin is the worst city in the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners in Heilongjiang. Many appalling forced labor camps and prisons are involved in the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners, including Wanjia Forced Labor Camp, Zhanglinzi Forced Labor Camp and Harbin Women's Prison, among others. In recent years, human rights organizations have collected concrete testimonies revealing the information about the dates, times and locations that the persecution was perpetrated, as well as names of perpetrators and witnesses. The testimonies of the persecution in Harbin are 500 pages long in A4 size paper. These testimonies indicate that atrocities of shocking Falun Gong practitioners with electric batons, forced feeding them with human excrement and various other cruel torture methods have been employed by the Chinese Communist regime, aiming to completely eliminate innocent Falun Gong practitioners.
In July 2006, Mr. David Kilgour, former Canadian MP and Secretary of State for Asia-Pacific, and renowned human rights lawyer Mr. David Matas released an investigation report on China's harvesting of organs from living Falun Gong practitioners. In the conclusion, the report pointed out that the atrocities of harvesting organs from living Falun Gong practitioners are carried out extensively in various places in China. On January 31, 2007, they released a revised report detailing additional concrete evidence of the persecution. It is estimated that there were some 41,500 organs, or even more than that figure, being harvested from living Falun Gong practitioners between 1999 and 2005. Similar conclusions were drawn by Vice-President of the European Parliament, Mr. Edward MacMillan Scott, and Belgian Senator Mr. Patrik Vankrunkelsven, after conducting independent investigations. Interviews with some victims conducted by Mr. Gao Zhisheng, renowned human rights lawyer, have revealed facts about the harvesting of organs from living people, and the atrocities have astonished the international community.
In the revised report released by Mr. David Kilgour and Mr. David Matas, a witness exposed her horrendous experience in Harbin's Wanjia Forced Labor Camp, which is often referred to as a place having much to do with organ harvesting cases. She had undergone organ-matching tests four times to make sure her physical condition was sound. However, her internal organs were disqualified for transplantation, as they were severely damaged during the cruel torture. Ironically, it was her poor health that saved her life. Why did those working in forced labor camps want to check the condition of organs of someone who was almost on the brink of death due to persecution? Why were Falun Gong practitioners subjected to the tests?
These are very important issues. The report indicated that the persecution in Harbin City is a top-down practice, and the mayor and many local officials are directly responsible for the genocidal atrocities. The persecution against Falun Gong not only takes place in those notorious institutions, but also infiltrate in the city government's various departments at all levels. Mayor Shi Zhongxin's speech at the Chinese central government is quite telling: "Harbin has successfully 'defeated Falun Gong.'" The mayor and other officials are even proud of having employed these terrible atrocities to deal with Falun Gong practitioners.
Given that Harbin is Aarhus' sister city, the Aarhus city authorities must face this fact. Harbin City's evil persecution of its innocent citizens is totally against the values promoted by Western democratic societies. As the autocratic Chinese Communist regime is on the brink of collapse, the appalling despicable atrocities will be exposed one after another as what had happened after the end of the World War II and the Berlin Wall fell. When the day comes, what people have done at present will be judged by the world's people and history.