Swiss Falun Gong Practitioners Condemn the Hong Kong Government's Politically Motivated Verdict

Sixteen Falun Gong practitioners, including four Swiss nationals, were judged guilty and fined. The judgement is a fresh attack on the rule of law and on the freedom of expression Beijing committed itself to respect when taking back Hong Kong in 1997: “One country, two systems”. This test trial against peaceful demonstrators illustrates the growing influence of the Chinese authorities on the ex-British colony. President Jiang Zemin is intent on exporting his hateful propaganda and inhumane methods to the free world.

These people who are being persecuted en masse by a paranoid dictator could be:

• your daughters, raped by prison warders


• your children, tortured to death by your own authorities


• your elderly parents, thrown into forced labour camps


• your loved one, overdosed with medicines and drugs


• your brothers and sisters, wandering, without family or shelter


• your nephews and nieces, deprived of their parents

Before so many unjust scenarios, what would you do?
Erich Bachmann (from Kreuzlingen), Simone Schlegel, Lam Duy Quoc and Roland Isenschmid (from Bern) listened only to their heart. After three years of savage repression against millions of Chinese who “wrongly” practised a traditional, non-violent, altruistic and apolitical discipline, they were overwhelmed by a new escalation on the part of the Chinese authorities: the order to shoot on sight those who practise Falun Gong.

Prohibited from entering mainland China, they went, on 14 March, to show their humanitarian support in front of the Chinese liaison office in Hong Kong: a calm and peaceful act, together with 11 local practitioners and one New Zealander.

After two months of an interminable trial process, and charged with obstructing the public highway and attacking the police, they have just been found guilty [15 August].

Obstruction - for a demonstration taking up 7 m2 of a total surface area of 140 m2? A trivial, ridiculous charge for a trial that was dragged through court for two months, with the obvious aim of ruining the accused through heavy costs for lawyers and for living expenses.

Who was blocking the traffic? It was, rather, the 60 police officers who threw themselves on the demonstrators while they sat in peaceful meditation, hitting them and applying acupressure to certain points – a Chinese method aimed at inflicting intense pain but without leaving any marks.

This trial, conducted under constant pressure from Beijing, is a farce, a disgrace for what remains of Hong Kong’s democracy. The judge systematically supported the police version of events after weeks of various statements dealing with trivia. The accused were pestered by an inquisitorial cross-examination; those who witnessed in their favour were ignored.

This disturbing trial has aroused a barrage of protests worldwide, including hunger strikes outside Chinese embassies, silent marches, and parliamentary intervention:

• The United Kingdom and United States Governments are concerned about political pressure applied to Hong Kong’s justice system.


• The Canadian minister, Svend Robinson, declared: “Canada must protest vigorously against political motivation in the trial of the 16 practitioners of Falun Gong.”


• Seven European ministers wrote to Falun Gong practitioners: “Thanks to your non?violent efforts, more organizations and Governments will help you.”


• The Transnational Radical Party reaffirmed its “total commitment to Falun Gong”, to democracy and to the freedoms at risk in Hong Kong.


• Many human rights and religious organizations (e.g. Pax Christi and the World Lutheran Federation) have also denounced this travesty of justice.

The practitioners judged guilty will appeal

They are acting not only for Falun Gong, but also for Hong Kong, for China, for the entire world: for all our freedoms and for the future of all; because tomorrow, others risk suffering the erosion of their rights.

During his recent visits to Germany, Russia and Iceland, Jiang Zemin pressurized the Governments to take measures against Falun Gong practitioners. In Bern, it is well remembered how this aggressive tyrant had, in March 1999, brutally threatened Switzerland in connection with a demonstration for Tibet.

We hope the authorities and the Swiss people will join the ever-widening movement of support to encourage the exemplary action of the four Swiss practitioners.