Germany: Practitioners File Lawsuit Concerning the Violation of Human Rights During Jiang's Visit to Germany

(Clearwisdom.net) During Jiang Zemin's state visit to Germany in 2002, German Federal agents and the Berlin police infringed upon Falun Gong practitioners' constitutional rights. Recently, Falun Gong practitioners from different countries have been planning to file lawsuits against the actions of the German Federal police in the administrative courts in Berlin and other areas. The goal of the lawsuits is to establish the facts of the human rights transgressions against Falun Gong practitioners during Jiang's state visit to Germany in April 2002, to prevent such acts occurring again in the future.

This is the third time that lawsuits have been filed against Jiang in Europe. The two previous lawsuits were instigated because he was afraid of seeing protesters and infringed upon people's rights through the actions of local police, inciting the indignation of local people, media and government officials. The lawsuit in 1995 with Amnesty International as the plaintiff and the lawsuit in 1999, which involved several organizations, both ended with rulings in favor of the plaintiffs. The local police apologized publicly to the plaintiffs.

Since July 1999, China's illegal persecution of Falun Gong, and the suffering of Falun Gong practitioners have shown the importance of a global emphasis on protecting people's human rights. Last April, when Jiang Zemin, who is chiefly responsible for the persecution of Falun Gong, visited Germany, Falun Gong practitioners intended to explain the facts of the persecution to people. However, within five days, many human rights violations by the German Department of Security and by the Chinese security guards occurred in Germany.

Falun Gong practitioners and their legal representatives have made many efforts to communicate with a number of related departments in Germany's Ministry of Domestic Affairs to explain the facts of the violations of basic human rights in April 2002 so as to prevent such acts from happening again in the future. The Ministry of Domestic Affairs in Berlin accepted the request to meet with them and, based on the investigation of the incident which happened last April, admitted that some actions of the police in Berlin transgressed the law at that time. However, the Federal Ministry of Domestic Affairs insisted that the acts were not wrong and resolutely refused to communicate further.

According to sources, on the one hand, the Minister of Domestic Affairs in Berlin, with his private assistants and the person in charge of the Department of Public Security and Order, invited a Falun Gong representative and a legal representative on two occasions to have talks about the actions of the Berlin police towards Falun Gong practitioners. After investigation of the facts that were discussed, the Ministry of Domestic Affairs in Berlin wrote a reply to legal representative of the Falun Gong practitioners on 20 December 2002. The letter stated, "summing up the results of the investigation, the action of the police was basically appropriate; however, it's likely that they over-reacted in certain details, such as officially forcing people away from certain areas, and having their belongings checked. The Chief Officer of the Police Station and the Ministry of Domestic Affairs express their sincere apologies for what happened. From now on, the police will pay special attention, even to those on special duties for state visits; and we will pay close attention to ensure no over-reacting takes place, in particular when Falun Gong practitioners are exercising their legal rights."

Lawyers have confirmed that the definite statements of The Ministry of Domestic Affairs in Berlin, expressing the confirmation of the transgressions of the Berlin police against Falun Gong, had the effect of revealing the truth and preventing bad results in the future. On the other hand, regarding the behaviour of the German Federal police toward Falun Gong practitioners last April, the Federal Ministry of Domestic Affairs replied to the legal representatives of Falun Gong practitioners on October 24 2002 that the behaviour of the federal police was not wrong; nevertheless, they pointed out clearly in the letter, "We can basically affirm that the gathering and parade arranged by Falun Gong practitioners during the State visit was peaceful and caused no disturbance." Up until March 2003, The Federal Ministry of Domestic Affairs continually refused Falun Gong practitioners' request for dialogue.

In March 2003, the German Federal Ministry of Domestic Affairs invited the representatives of Falun Gong practitioners and their legal representatives to have discussions on the behaviour of the federal police last April. In the talks, the Federal Ministry of Domestic Affairs accepted the individual cases handed in by Falun Gong practitioners, and indicated that they would investigate the cases with the Criminal Division of the Federal Ministry of Domestic Affairs within a short time. After investigating the above cases, the Criminal Division of the Federal Ministry of Domestic Affairs insisted that their acts at that time did not violate the law. However, The Federal Ministry of Domestic Affairs did not declare their position about the statement, though they claimed to Falun Gong practitioners that they hoped to continue to have discussions with Falun Gong practitioners, and hoped that their talks could prevent such behaviour from ever occurring again.

Under the condition stated above, and owing to the term of the lawsuit within the German federal legal system, Falun Gong practitioners from many countries and the German Falun Gong Association recently decided to resolve the problem through legal proceedings. Whilst continuing to converse with the German Ministry of Domestic Affairs, they filed lawsuits against the Federal German, Brandenburg, Niedersachens and Sachsen authorities. The plaintiffs indicated that if they could achieve a satisfactory solution through discussions that had already been started, they would drop the case.

In April 2002, the media described the situation of Jiang Zemin's visit to Berlin: "An absolutely undemocratic state visit...Although having stayed in Germany for five days, the Chinese president Jiang Zemin could not hear any criticism, because wherever he went, the German government would help him to get rid of people who criticized him." Much of the media made similar comments.

A representative of German Falun Gong practitioners explained, "The dignity of humankind and justice are factors constituting a normal society. However, they were violated when the government invited a state guest. We hope that through the discussions and the lawsuit about this case, we can achieve the goal of clarifying the truth, and preventing such acts from happening again."

On 3 April, the three states in Germany mentioned above simultaneously held press conferences concerning this issue.