Prosecutor: I'd like to call Ms. Ding to the witness stand. Mrs. Ding, what office did your husband hold in China?
Mrs. Ding: He worked in the "610" Office.
Prosecutor: Could you remind us what the "610" Office actually is.
Mrs. Ding: It's the office that was created to stop Falun Gong. It's all over the country.
Prosecutor: What role did your husband have in the "610" Office?
Mrs. Ding: He was appointed head of the "610" Office in Heilongjiang Province.
Prosecutor: What did your husband do as the head of the "610" Office in Heilongjiang Province?
Mrs. Ding: He carried out the orders of the central "610" Office...
Prosecutor: Orders in regards to what?
Mrs. Ding: Falun Gong.
Prosecutor: Can you be more specific?
Mrs. Ding: I don't understand.
Prosecutor: What orders did he carry out in regards to Falun Gong?
Mrs. Ding: Whatever orders were passed down by his superiors.
Prosecutor: What was the nature of those orders?
(pause)
Mrs. Ding?
(pause, more strongly)
Did he arrest Falun Gong practitioners?
(pause)
Did he arrest -
Mrs. Ding: Yes.
P: Did he sentence FG practitioners to forced labor camps?
Mrs. Ding: Yes.
P: Did he beat Falun Gong practitioners?
Mrs. Ding: No.
P: Did he order Falun Gong practitioners to be beaten?
(Slight pause)
Mrs. Ding
Mrs. Ding: I don't know what orders he gave.
Prosecutor: Did he order Falun Gong practitioners to be force-fed?
Mrs. Ding: I don't know.
Prosecutor: Did he tell his officers that Falun Gong deaths would be counted as suicides?
Mrs. Ding: I don't know.
Prosecutor: Did he order his men to shock Falun Gong practitioners with multiple electric batons?
Mrs. Ding: I don't know.
Prosecutor: Did he order female practitioners to be thrown in jail cells with male prisoners?
(Mrs. Ding and Defense Attorney speak at the same time)
Mrs. Ding: I don't know!
Defense attorney: Objection your honour!
Judge: Objection sustained.
Prosecutor: (immediately) Is it true that orders were given to defame Falun Gong practitioners, cut off their financial resources and destroy them physically?
Mrs. Ding: Those orders did not come from my husband.
Prosecutor: Where did those orders come from? Did he carry out those orders?
(slight pause) Your husband was the head of the "610" Office in Heilongjiang province? Did he not carry out the orders he was given?
Mrs. Ding: (pause) He had no choice.
Prosecutor: No choice? Mrs. Ding there's always a choice.
Mrs. Ding: You don't know what you're talking about. If you understood Chinese history, if you understood the nature of the Communist Party then you'd know... there's no such thing as "choice" in China. When Mao launched the Cultural Revolution, he detained and tortured the President of China. When Deng Xiaoping opened fire on students on Tiananmen Square and the head of the Communist Party lost his power, who had a choice? Jiang Zemin controls the military. Who has any choice?... It's not just Falun Gong that's been persecuted. I've been persecuted, too, as has my family and everyone in China.
Prosecutor: Are you saying Jiang Zemin is the person responsible for the persecution of Falun Gong?
Mrs Ding: Yes.
Judge:Given what you have described thus far, is it correct to say that the "610" office has been the primary agent in enforcing and implementing Jiang's will to destroy Falun Gong? And that Jiang gave this system powers above the law and above all normal channels of procedure?
Mrs. Ding: Yes, your honour.
Overseas Harassment
Prosecutor: I would now like to call Terrance Williams to the witness stand. Mr. Williams, what do you do for a living?
Mr.Williams: I'm the mayor of Martinville, Texas.
Prosecutor: Last year you signed a proclamation supporting the practise of Falun Gong and condemning the persecution. Could you tell us about that?
Mr. Williams: Yes sir. Last summer I had a call come into my office requesting a meeting from a couple of young ladies and a gentleman who were passing through town. I invited them into the office and they started to tell me about the nature of their spiritual practice and the terrible stories of people who are being persecuted for practising it.
They looked me in the eye when they spoke and I felt they were good, honest people. They had a nice way about them so I asked them what it was I could do to help. They said that it was good when elected officials here in the U.S.A. publicly showed support and asked if I would sign a proclamation. I was more than happy to do so.
They left, I wished them luck, and told them to let me know if there was anything else I could do.
Prosecutor: What happened after that?
Mr. Williams: A couple of weeks after the proclamation was sent out, I received a package in the mail. It was full of hideous material attacking the practise I had signed the proclamation for along with the people who practise it.
Prosecutor: What practise is that.
Mr. Williams: That's the Falun Gong practise.
Prosecutor: What else was in the package?
Mr. Williams: Well, if the materials weren't offensive enough, there was an accompanying letter from the head of the Chinese Consulate that just fell shy of ordering me to rescind the proclamation.
I don't scare easy, but I can tell you that sent a chill down my spine. Right here in the U.S.A. a foreign government was bold enough to tell me, an elected official, what I could and could not do. I wondered why they felt they could openly have such gall right here on U.S. soil.
I sent a letter of response to the gentleman at the consulate and told him that regardless of how they might operate where he comes from, here in the U.S.A. we take our freedom seriously. I said that the garbage he sent me was not welcome and if he wanted to discuss things, he could come to visit so we could talk eye to eye. He didn't reply to my invitation..
Prosecutor: No more questions your honour. Thank you Mr. Williams.
Mr. Wiliams: My pleasure.
Judge: Defense?
Defense: No questions your honor.
Prosecutor: Will one of you please begin and tell us what you know about the persecution of Falun Gong in the United States.
One of the three steps forward and begins to speak
Leeshai: We know that Jiang Zemin and his 6/10 organization have a network of spies in the United States. We know this because one of the spies, a Mr. Liao, has confessed. We have his written confession, the evidence of his crimes -- notebooks and other records, and depositions from eyewitnesses. Because I have served as legal counsel on recent lawsuits, I have here a certified copy of probative portions of his notebook.
Judge: Bailiff, please have them marked as prosecution exhibit 2 and move them into evidence.
[Bailiff does so]
Prosecutor: Could you summarise the contents of the notebook for us?
Leeshai: It tells how Mr. Liao received $3,500 from an "employee" of the Chinese consulate for supplying information about Falun Gong practitioners. Mr. Liao was also seen stealing records of Falun Gong contact persons.
Prosecutor: did Mr. Liao admit that he worked for the defendant?
Leeshai: He admitted that he worked for several Chinese agents who had close ties with Jiang Zemin's "610" Office.
There have been similar cases in San Francisco, Chicago, and New York where Chinese agents not only harassed but assaulted Falun Gong practitioners. A few men have already been charged and sentenced for their crimes. Because the assailants target not individuals but practitioners as representatives of a larger group of a particular creed or faith, I think they can safely be called hate crimes. Even worse, they seem to be hate crimes committed by agents of a foreign government right here on American soil.
Judge: Are you saying that you believe the difficulties Falun Gong practitioners have encountered here in the United States are really just an extension of the persecution inside China?
Leeshai: Yes, your honour.
Judge: Any more questions for your witness?
Prosecutor: No, thank you. No further questions.
Defense Attorney: I have no questions at this time.
(The rest of script will be published in instalments on Clearharmony over the coming days)
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