(Minghui.org) The Society for Threatened Peoples (GfbV), a human rights organization headquartered in Göttingen, Germany, published a news release titled “Falun Gong practitioners still illegally imprisoned in China, Freedom for Yuande Ding!” in English and German on November 28, 2024. The article criticized the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) for its crimes against Falun Gong practitioners, and called for perpetrators of the persecution to be punished by law.
Jasna Causevic, a GfbV expert on genocide prevention, emphasized in the press release, “The Chinese government must put an end to the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners, which has now been going on for 25 years. These crimes – committed by the Chinese state – include acts that violate fundamental human rights and international norms. Those responsible must be brought to justice in accordance with Chinese laws and on the basis of the UN Convention against Torture.”
Screenshot of the German language press release issued by The Society for Threatened Peoples on November 28, 2024.
The organization called on the CCP to immediately release Falun Gong practitioner Ding Yuande and all other practitioners whom the regime unlawfully brought to court a year ago merely because of their religious affiliation. The article stated, “In a wave of show trials shortly before the EU China Summit, in November and December of 2023, the Chinese government had convicted 22 Falun Gong practitioners from Rizhao in the southeastern province of Shangdong.”
The court in Wulian County illegally tried Falun Gong practitioner Ding Yuande from Wulian County, Rizhao City on November 28, 2023, and sentenced him to three years in prison as well as a fine of 15,000 yuan on December 15, 2023. In the same year, on December 4, 5 and 6, three days in a row, 21 Falun Gong practitioners, including Hong Meishuang, Guo Xin and Jiang Haipo, were arrested and tried in the same court. These practitioners were subsequently sentenced to different prison terms on December 25, 2023 and made to pay fines of varying amounts adding up to 228,000 yuan. Hong Meishuang was sentenced to 5.5 years in prison and fined 10,000 yuan. Guo Xin was sentenced to 4 years and 3 months in prison and fined 30,000 yuan.
The Society for Threatened Peoples previously strongly censured the CCP’s large-scale persecution of practitioners in Rizhao City, Shandong Province. On December 27, 2023, the organization published a statement in English and German criticizing the authorities in Rizhao City for mass arrests of practitioners and illegal trials. According to the news release, “The charges against him (Ding Yuande) are as arbitrary and absurd as the circumstances of his arrest. The communist regime is aware that there is no basis for this under Chinese law. The pseudo-legal farce is part of a repressive campaign against Falun Gong practitioners, which the Chinese government has been following through with for the past 24 years.”
Screenshot of the press release by The Society for Threatened Peoples on November 27, 2023.
On November 28 this year Ding Yuande’s son Ding Lebin said during an interview, “My father was brought before the People’s Court in Wulian solely because he follows the Chinese meditation movement Falun Gong. There was no legal basis for the trial at all.” “In jail, he is submitted to brainwashing, as a means to get him to reject and denigrate Falun Gong. He is most likely suffering from torture. During his time in prison, he might also become a victim of forced organ harvesting, as the Communist Party of China is said to have introduced this as a punishment for political prisoners.”
Ms. Jasna Causevic said in the same press release, “We stand with the Ding family and will continue to advocate for the freedom of Yuande Ding and the protection of his wife, who, after being imprisoned in May 2023, has meanwhile been released.”
Board members of The Society for Threatened Peoples and members of the human rights team held banners to call on the CCP to stop persecuting Falun Gong and to express support for all Falun Gong practitioners.
The news release quoted Ding Lebin, “The Chinese government has also intensified transnational repression and espionage activities against Chinese human rights activists living in Germany. The Communist Party of China is trying to silence me because of my public and ongoing advocacy for my parents.”
Jasna Causevic also urged, “The German Federal Government must vigorously stand up for the rights of people living in Germany who fled from repression by the Chinese Communist Party.” “Further, we are calling on German politicians to use talks with representatives of the Chinese government to advocate for the release of imprisoned Falun Gong practitioners, political dissidents, Christians, Muslims, members of ethnic minorities, and other population groups in China.”
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