LONDON (EFGIC) – After more than 50 days of isolated detention, American citizen Dr. Charles Li was hurried through a show trial by China’s “high court”. The Intermediate People's Court in Yangzhou announced its anticipated “guilty” verdict late yesterday, March 21.

Early reports indicate that Dr. Li has been sentenced to three years in prison.

“This show trial of an American makes a mockery of the so-called ‘rule of law’ in China,” says European Falun Gong Information Centre spokesman Peter Jauhal. “In fact, it is, in essence, a trial for the Communist legal system in China, which can prosecute any innocent citizen including an American doctor for its political interests.”

“We demand that Dr. Charles Li be released immediately,” Mr. Jauhal says.

Chinese Authorities Alter Charges as International Pressure Mounts

Chinese authorities initially accused Dr. Li of “sabotaging TV and/or radio equipment,” and threatened to sentence him to as many as 15 years in prison. In recent weeks, however, while Dr. Li’s case gained public awareness and support worldwide, the charge was diminished to “preparing” to sabotage.

The Chinese authorities cite a walkman-like VCD player Li carried in his luggage as “evidence” that he might have been able to interfere with a TV broadcast.

Dr. Li, who specialises in importing Chinese herbs, has no engineering background.

Throughout his detention and trial, Dr. Li has maintained that the Chinese government is targeting him simply because he practices Falun Gong.

“We have always been clear that Dr. Li has done nothing wrong,” says Adam Leining a close friend of Dr. Li’s. “The fact that Charles traveled to China with consumer electronics doesn’t justify arresting him in the first place, let alone sentencing him to three years in prison.”

Guilty Until Proven Innocent

According to a U.S. consular official last week, Dr. Li intended to defend himself in court on Friday.

Ms. Yeong-Ching Foo, Dr. Li’s fiancée, was able to correspond with him via the U.S. consulate in Shanghai. “Charles refused to hire an attorney,” says Ms. Foo. “Doing so would only be going along with an unfair trial.”

Friends and fellow Falun Gong practitioners say the entire judicial system is turned upside down and used as a tool for persecuting Falun Gong. “The [Chinese] regime starts by wanting to target Falun Gong for persecution,” says Mr. Leining. “They then trump-up charges against Falun Gong practitioners and then work backward to gather or fabricate “evidence” to support the charges. The entire process is completely turned on its head. It all stems from the state-sponsored persecution that the former Chinese leader, Jiang Zemin, has unleashed.”

Mr. Leining concludes, “This trial is just one of the tools of the persecution.”

A History of Shady Judicial Procedures

In its 1999 Country Report on East Asia, the U.S. State Department stated that in certain sensitive or political cases, the Chinese legal system “denies criminal defendants basic legal safeguards and due process because authorities attach higher priority to maintaining public order and suppressing political opposition than to enforcing legal norms.”

Moreover, in Chinese courts, “the conviction rate is over 98%, and very few cases are reviewed on appeal, for fear of longer sentences and/or new charges,” says U.S. human rights attorney Terri Marsh. In such a legal system, practitioners of Falun Gong – one of Beijing’s main targets – have no chance to a fair trial, she says.

Background

Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa (about), is a practice of meditation and exercises with teachings based on the universal principle of "Truthfulness-Compassion-Tolerance." It is a practice that was taught in private for thousands of years before being made public in 1992 by Mr. Li Hongzhi. Falun Gong has roots in traditional Chinese culture, but it is distinct and separate from other practices such as the religions of Buddhism and Taoism. Since its introduction in 1992, it quickly spread by word of mouth throughout China, and is now practiced in over 50 countries.

With government estimates of as many as 100 million practicing Falun Gong, China's President Jiang Zemin outlawed the peaceful practice in July 1999 (report), fearful of anything touching the hearts and minds of more citizens than the Communist Party. Unable to crush the spirit of millions who had experienced improved health and positive life changes from Falun Gong, Jiang's regime has intensified its propaganda campaign to turn public opinion against the practice while quietly imprisoning, torturing and even murdering those who practice it.

The Falun Dafa Information Center has verified details of 634 deaths (reports /sources) since the persecution of Falun Gong in China began in 1999. Government officials inside China, however, report that the actual death toll is well over 1,600, while expert sources estimate that figure to be much higher. Hundreds of thousands have been detained, with more than 100,000 being sentenced to forced labour camps, typically without trial.

FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT THE EUROPEAN FALUN GONG INFORMATION CENTRE