Saturday, May 01, 2004

A group of beleaguered Falun Gong practitioners wants Canada to join a growing list of nations using judicial muscle to challenge China's repressive policies.

Hoisting protest banners outside Hamilton City Hall yesterday, half a dozen followers of the outlawed spiritual movement called on Hamiltonians to pressure their elected leaders to support a private criminal proceeding against former Chinese president Jiang Zemin.

China's leader from 1993 until 2002, [Jiang] is seen as chiefly responsible for the government policy which led to the widespread persecution of Falun Gong practitioners. Calling Falun Gong a "heretical movement" and an "evil cult," Beijing moved to ban the enormously popular movement in 1999.

Founded in 1992, Falun Gong is a variation of an ancient Chinese method of cultivating mind and body for fitness, health and a greater sense of well-being. Followers perform physical and meditative exercises and embrace the credo: Truth-Compassion-Forbearance.

Professor Kunlun Zhang, a retired art instructor and Canadian citizen who was abducted and tortured by Chinese officials during a visit to China, is appealing to federal Justice Minister Irwin Cotler to approve a private criminal prosecution against [Jiang].

Between June 200 and January 2001, Zhang was detained by Chinese police who threatened and tortured him in a bid to have him renounce Falun Gong. Zhang spent three weeks in infamous Wangcun Labor Camp (nicknamed "Hell on Earth") where he was kept awake for seven-day stretches and forced to watch anti-Falun Gong videos 24 hours a day.

The criminal Code of Canada permits the prosecution of non-Canadian citizens with the consent of the attorney general. Zhang's lawyers, David Matas of Winnipeg and Lawrence Greenspon of Ottawa, are seeking to charge [Jiang] with torture under Section 269 (1) of the Criminal Code. Canadian Falun Gong practitioners would assume all costs, they said.

Falun Gong practitioner Yan Liu is optimistic.

[...]

... similar lawsuits launched by other nations will surely persuade China to take stock of its human rights record.

A similar lawsuit was launched last fall in Spain, while a suit is under way in Germany. Earlier this month, a Toronto businessman was awarded damages for libel against a Chinese consular official who called Falun Gong a "sinister cult." Last week, China's commerce minister was served, during a visit to Washington, with a lawsuit alleging torture, genocide and other crimes against humanity.

Tens of thousands of Falun Gong practitioners have been arrested in China, thousands of whom are sent for "re-education" at labor camps. According to Amnesty International, several hundred may have died as a result of torture.

Local followers of Falun Gong practice their exercises every Sunday at Bayfront Park from 9:30 to 11 a.m. and every Tuesday at McMaster University from 1 to 2 p.m.