Finland: Visit from Chief Abuser of Human Rights Luo Gan

On Tuesday 9th September, high ranking Chinese official and leader of the “610 Office” Luo Gan visited Finland. Falun Gong practitioners from Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Australia and Switzerland participated in activities in Finland to appeal for an end to the persecution of Falun Gong. They also appealed to the government ministers of Finland, asking them to bring up the issue of human rights during the visit of Luo Gan. Luo Gan is a leader of notorious 610 Office, which was established by Jiang Zemin solely for persecuting Falun Gong and is above all Chinese law.

Before arriving in Finland, Luo Gan had already faced a lawsuit in Iceland launched by Falun Gong practitioners. As one of the world’s worst abusers of human rights, he wasn’t a welcome visitor in Finland either. He didn’t allow newspapers to interview him, apparently in fear of questions regarding the practitioners’ lawsuits. On the day before his arrival, one big newspaper featured an article entitled “Falun Gong Files a Lawsuit”, explaining how Luo Gan is facing multiple lawsuits in several countries for genocide, torture and crimes against humanity in the persecution of Falun Gong.

On Tuesday evening, Luo Gan arrived at the Hilton Hotel in Helsinki. Practitioners were outside the hotel holding a candlelight vigil, with banners saying “Falun Dafa is Good” and “Truthfulness, Compassion, Tolerance”. Many passers-by asked what they were doing in front of the hotel at such a late hour; after hearing about the persecution and Luo Gan’s crimes, as well as the peaceful nature of Falun Gong, they were very sympathetic. Luo Gan dared not to enter the hotel using the front doors, for he was afraid of seeing Falun Gong banners and that people would find out more about his crimes against innocent Chinese people. At the same time practitioners were also in front of the Chinese embassy holding a second candlelight vigil.