Canada: Alberta Falun Gong Practitioners Rally in Edmonton to Support Lawsuit Against Jiang Zemin

On the afternoon of March the 14th, after the grand St. Patrick's Day parade, Falun Gong practitioners in Alberta, Canada held a rally in Edmonton to support the lawsuit filed by Professor Zhang Kunlun against Jiang Zemin and other persecutors for torture. Practitioners called upon people from all walks of life to urge Justice Minister Irwin Cotler to accept Professor Zhang's request for the lawsuit. Practitioners also collected signatures from passersby during the rally.

A 63-year-old Ottawa resident, Professor Zhang Kunlun had been arrested four times during his family visit in China simply because of his practice of Falun Gong. In November 2000, he was sentenced to a three-year-term in a forced labour camp. Later, through the Canadian government's rescue effort, he was released from the labour camp in January, 2001 and returned to Canada. During his imprisonment, Professor Zhang endured various physical tortures, including beating, electric shock (jail guards used several electric batons on him simultaneously) and other physical punishments. He also was subjected to different types of mental torture such as brainwashing, having his family harassed and financial extortion.

Professor Zhang, according to related Canadian laws on torture and terrorism, recently delegated his attorneys to file a lawsuit for torture against Jiang Zemin and 21 others.