(Clearwisdom.net) On the morning of December 12, 2001, Montreal practitioners held a press conference regarding Quebec Superior Court's order for the Montreal-based Chinese newspaper "Les Presses Chinoises" to stop its anti-Falun Gong publications.

Civil rights lawyer Mr. Michael Bergman spoke at the conference. He stated that the order itself is a significant initial step in the efforts of the practitioners of Falun Gong to resist and prevent the publication of this type of literature against their beliefs. It is also an important initial step in establishing justice to see that a civil court was prepared to enter this type of order. It is also an important step to state to the public that in this country and in this time of human history, these people will not tolerate, nor be victimized by, a form of state-sponsored persecution, which is taking place in the PRC and seems to have unfortunately and practically contaminated some portions of the community in Canada. He also pointed out that many of the allegations in this so called "advertising" have been taken literally word-for-word from material that has been printed on the website of the Embassy of the People's Republic of China, which strongly suggests that there may be a certain link between the material of the PRC website and the material found in the so-called "advertising." The over 100 practitioners who initiated this suit were also greatly concerned that this material could be used by Jiang Zemin's campaign in China against Falun Gong. And in fact the material has found its way on to the PRC website in Canada.

Press conference

Representatives of the Montreal Falun Dafa Association emphasized that the case of "Les Presses Chinoises" is not coincidental. Chinese Embassy and consulate generals constantly distribute slanderous materials to Canadian governments and media and attempt to exert influence on Canadian Chinese media so as to incite the Canadian society's and especially the Chinese community's hatred toward Falun Gong.

It is the first time overseas Falun Gong practitioners have taken a legal approach to stop the use of media to slander Falun Gong. The incident has drawn tremendous media attention. All the Chinese media in Montreal, including the accused newspaper, were present at the press conference. Over 500 English and French radio and TV stations received information of the court decision through Broadcast News. The speakers answered the questions from the reporters. At present, the case is still in court. The court will soon discuss the case and determine the responsibility of the defendants.