La Presse: Ottawa asked to intercede for an ex-Montrealer, prisoner of a labor camp in China

Marie-Claude Malboeuf appeared November 22nd 2000

Eyes riveted on her letter to the Canadian government, LingDi Zhang' voice is trembling.

"My father was tortured with electric shocks, forced to watch the Chinese government's propaganda and to renounce Falun Gong", murmurs the student of Ottawa University, who is asking for the help of the Canadian government to free the prisoner from his labor camp.

Kulun Zhang, former Montrealer, 59 years old, would have been condemned to three years in a labor camp because he practices Falun Gong, a " gentle exercise " associated to numerous beliefs which, having rallied 70 million disciples in eight years, has placed the Chinese government on the war path.

For the past week, the young computer science student is terrorised by the thought of losing track of her father, returned to his native province of Shandong to teach at the University of Fine Arts. At her demand the Minister of Foreign Affairs sent, the 18th of November, a diplomatic note that has remained unanswered. "As Mr. Zhang entered China with his Chinese passport (he has dual citizenship), it is difficult to obtain consular access", explains the minister's spokesperson, Reynald Doiron.

Canada and the United States have already decried the repression exercised by Beijing. There have been a reported 80 deaths following torture and dozens of thousands others detained in labour camps, prisons or psychiatric hospitals (these numbers are impossible to verify).

" Many Australians and Americans of Chinese origin have been arrested, I believe it is the first Canadian ", indicates Mike Kropveld, who is interested in Falun Gong for Info-cult.

The Chinese government claims that the group is a public danger. It serves as a screen for opponents of the regime. They affirm that its founder has led to their death 1 500 people by discouraging the use of medicine, and has made insane and led to suicide thousands of others.

Analysts think that it is simply the giant growth of the group that has communist leaders trembling, worried about eventual mass movements.

At its beginnings, Falun Gong was, in any case, tolerated and even seduced members of the Chinese government, the public squares and parks were teeming with disciples in exercise sessions. But its practice was banned after a monster manifestation that mobilised 10 000 people around the regime seat, in July 1999.

Mr. Zhang, who lived in Montreal from 1989 to 1996, has for his part been arrested in a park on July 27th. He had apparently been detained and tortured for a month and then released, only to be detained once again after having protested. This time, he would have went on hunger strike and been sent to the hospital at the end of six days.

His daughter says that he was arrested for good on November 15th, ten days after his return home, and learned that he would spend the next three years in a labour camp. Since then, no one has heard from him.

The young woman can only call her mother, Shumei Zhang, who would not have been arrested because she must care for her 90-year-old mother. "But she has been confined to her home and her telephone is tapped permanently."

Mme Zhang had at first refused to help the Canadian government. "She had suspicions about the nature of the phone call and wanted to protect her familly", said LingDi. She is the one that introduced Falun Gong to her inner circle after having visited a friend in China in 1994. "She practised it for two weeks and became very healthy", maintains her daughter.

It is unknown how many people practice these same exercises in Montreal. At a press conference yesterday, there were a dozen followers, very discreet but determined.

Their spokesperson, Lucy Zhou, finds Ottawa too timid. "I do not understand why Canada does not have lawyers to help these people", added Jin Yu Li, whose husband has been detained for 11 months, seeing his plans for immigration broken at the very last minute.