German Newspaper: Unfounded Inspection Is Illegal

German newspaper “Dresdner Neuesten Nachrichten” published an article on February 1st 2006 entitled “Unfounded Inspection is Illegal”. The article reports that Falun Gong practitioners’ lawsuit against German policemen’s violation of their human rights under the Chinese Communist Party’s pressure, which was handed in and dealt with by the Dresden City Administrative Court, was successful.

The report says the Dresden Administrative Court decided in their judgement on February 1st that the police have no right at all to order an individual of any nationality belonging to any religious group to depart from a certain place. In 2002, when the Chinese Communist dictator Jiang Zemin paid a visit to Germany, many Falun Gong practitioners held an anti-persecution parade in Dresden because Falun Gong has been banned in China. During the event, German policeman intervened many times.

Falun Gong practitioner’s entrusted lawyer Frank Selbmann says: “The lawsuit we file is a collection of 6 cases altogether.” He considers this as a fundamental problem. Therefore even though the investigation might take a long time, they still must get to the bottom of this case. “We want to avoid these things happening again”. Selbmann explains that, regarding similar incidents of policemen interfering with Falun Gong practitioners’ protests in other states in Germany, both sides have sorted out their problems in peace outside the court, “however the Home Department of Sachsen State still has some issues”.

In the first lawsuit, the Court would be investigating the incident of a Chinese lady in Augustusbrueke whose ID was checked by policemen on patrol and then promptly taken away. Selbmann says the police do not have any excuse checking her ID and then demanding her to leave. The reason why this lady was stopped was that she was Chinese. At that time Jiang was dining at Bellevue Restaurant, therefore security and surveillance was very strict around the restaurant. Selbmann says: “The place was not an alert zone where my plaintiff was. She wasn’t wearing any slogans, nor did she carry a bag that could be containing dangerous items.”

The Sachsen Home Department expresses that it would be impossible to find this police officer who questioned the lady. This lady should have requested the police officer to show his serial number and asked for a written statement for her forced departure. Only this way can the incident be dealt with properly through legitimate ways. After two witnesses have testified what the defendant has described, the Court declared that the case stands. A written adjudication will be completed in two days time.