Country: Germany
Name: Bernd Aurnhammer, male, self-employed, German;
Location and date of incident: Estonia-Lithuania border, June 2002
Description:

While travelling from Estonia to Latvia to appeal to Chinese president, Jiang, during his visit , Mr. Aurnhammer was detained at the border between these two countries. He was told that there was a warrant in Lithuania for his arrest.

Mr. Aurnhammer assured the guard that he had never been to Lithuania before and did not have a negative police record. He also discovered that similar arrest warrants had been issued for two of his fellow travellers. All three had appealed on Tiananmen Square a few months prior.

He said that his appeal on Tiananmen was the reason his name ended up on the ‘blacklist’. Mr. Aurnhammer commented “It is this blacklist the Chinese authorities are using to exert pressure on the Lithuanian government.” When he and the other clarified the truth to the guard, they were permitted to enter Latvia.