Reports and Cases on how the Chinese Consulate in Italy has violated the Civil Rights, Law and Sovereignty in Italy

In Italy, reports have given indication that Chinese consulate officials have been instigating public hatred towards Falun Gong practitioners. Practitioners are being threatened and harassed. As overseas nationals and residents, practitioners’ legal activities have also been interfered with by the Chinese consulate. Apart from this, the Chinese consulate has imposed pressure on foreign organisations and communities. The following are some cases in this regards.

1. Spreading Slanderous Propaganda within the community and the Chinese consulate and Embassy

On December the 14th, 2001, a photo exhibition to slander Falun Dafa was displayed in the Chinese Embassy in Rome. The exhibition was organised by two Roman-registered newspapers “Xinhua Shibao” and “Ouhua Shibao”. The ambassador, Cheng Wendong also delivered a speech to slander Falun Gong at the exhibition.

In March, 2002, another photo exhibition to slander Falun Dafa was held in the Chinese consulate in Milan.

2. Slanderous propaganda Through the Media

On December the 18th, 2001, “Xinhua Shibao” and “Ouhua Shibao” reported on the slanderous photo exhibition that was held in the Chinese consulate in Rome. In the reports, that were displayed on their front pages, the Chinese officials’ slanderous remarks against Falun Gong were quoted in their entirety.

3. Tapped phone lines and threatening practitioners

Around March 2002, a Chinese Falun Gong practitioner in Italy had received two calls from a male with a Chinese accent, saying, “300,000 Chinese in Italy will never spare you. Be careful of your life.”

Another practitioner also received a call from a male with a Chinese accent, scolding him and warning him to be careful.

4. Harrassing Practitioners and Physical Attacks

The Chinese embassy in Milan had called the police many times, referring to Falun Gong practitioners that were peacefully demonstrating outside the embassy as “dangerous people.” The Italian police arrived to investigate and came to the conclusion that practitioners were only holding a peaceful demonstration.

On November the 10th, 2001, when practitioners were demonstrating the Falun Gong exercises amongst the Chinese community in Milan, some Chinese consulate officials were sitting in a Chinese restaurant near the practice site. All of a sudden, several of the restaurant staff came out to clean the windows and asked the practitioners to move. The restaurant staff then poured dirty water on the street in an attempt to prevent the exercise demonstration. As a result of this, the restaurant staff were fined by the police. Some reliable resource stated that a staff member of the Chinese consulate bullied the proprietor of the Chinese restaurant into this. Chinese consulate officials together with some others also took photos of practitioners and recorded their conversations with the passers-by. During a ten-minute absence of the police, one man who called himself the Chairman of the chamber of commerce hysterically attempted to expel the practitioners from their place of demonstration. According to reliable resource, “He was paid to do what he was supposed to do.” After the police came back, the alleged “chairman” just vanished mysteriously.

On the afternoon of November the 28th, 2001 practitioners were demonstrating the exercises when the owner of the Chinese restaurant called for the Italian police. The police confirmed that the practitioners were guaranteed permission by the Milan Police Station to practice the exercises there, and they stayed near the practice site to protect the practitioners until they had finished practicing the exercises. Later the owner of the Chinese restaurant admitted that Chinese consulate officials pressured him into calling for the police. One of the policemen said that on one weekend night he received a phone call from an official of the Chinese consulate, saying that overseas Chinese people complained to the consulate about the practitioners’ exercise demonstration. The policeman said that the Chinese consulate official was called Liang Haitao.

On March 25th, 2002, Liang Haitao (who has now returned to China) denied two practitioners applications for passport renewals, refused to write certificates for practitioners and refused to return their application forms, which had photo’s attached.

5. Italian government Pressurised into interfering with Falun Gong activities

In May, 2002 during Li Langing’s visit to Florence, Italian practitioners were guaranteed permission by police. But under Chinese pressure, the Italian police asked practitioners to move to a place that was out of sight of the Chinese delegates.

6. Italian administration Forced to deny Falun Gong practitioners their deserved rights and service

The Italian Avvenire Newspaper reported on May the 18th, 2001: The New Religions Research Centre in Turin held a seminar on Falun Gong on Wednesday, May the 16th. On Tuesday afternoon, the Chinese console in Milan visited the research centre in Turin and asked to call off the seminar, the seminar however was held as scheduled.

7. Blacklist Used to Prevent Italian Falun Gong practitioners’ travelling to other countries

On November the 13th, 2001, two Italian practitioners came to the Chinese consulate in Milan to apply for a passport renewal, while another practitioner served as their translator. The consulate staff asserted that the two practitioners’ cases were special, asked them to wait a phone call from the consulate, and refused to answer any question about their respective cases. On December the 14th, 2001, they again went to the Chinese consulate to request additional information. Liang Haitao asked them to write a guarantee statement not to practise Falun Gong or else their applications for a passport renewal would be refused. Later, Liang called them, saying, “I can do nothing about it. My superior said that if you don’t write the guarantee statement, your applications will be refused.”

Alfredo Fava, a businessman and Falun Gong practitioner living in Biella, Italy used to run a company with 35 staff in Shanghai, China. His visa and residency permit were supposed to be valid for one year and was to expire in 2002. On October 8th 2001, after arriving at Pudong International Airport, he was stopped and detained by two customs officials in the customs office. Here a female official told him that he was not welcome in China. Mr. Fava was informed, “You are on the blacklist.” His plane ticket was confiscated and the date of his return trip was changed; he was later deported back to Italy. On October 10th, the Italian Stampa Newspaper reported: Alfredo Fava, an Italian businessman, was expelled from China because he was a Falun Gong follower. On September 25th he participated in the National Mobilisation Day activities in Italy organised by the Falun Dafa Association and the Radical Party that aimed to expose China’s persecution against this non-violent movement.

On October 31st, Mr. Fava told the media: with the negotiations of Italian MPs, MEPs, Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Italian embassy in Beijing, the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs notified him via a written document that China had lifted the restriction on his entry to China. After that, Mr. Fava stayed in China for three weeks during which he was continually monitored and followed by a police car.

From April 15th 2002 to July 2002, the Chinese consulate in Milan has three times denied Mr. Fava a visa.

The blacklist has produced the following results. Firstly, because the Chinese consulate denied Mr. Fava a visa, he has been unable to run his business in China for 16 months. Secondly, the “610 Office” [an organisation specially set up to persecute Falun Gong] sent police to harass Mr. Fava’s customers. As a result, the size of his business has dropped dramatically and Mr. Fava was forced to sell his company for a relatively low price.

8. Using the Internet to Interfere with practitioners

In 2000, Alfredo Fava received large amounts of junk mail, which rendered his e-mail account useless. Other Falun Gong practitioners have also been targeted with virus infected emails. These emails seems as if they have been sent by practitioners.

Conclusion:

These examples show that China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs have overstepped their duty and have violated the civil rights, law, and sovereignty in Italy. We hope that this information can help the public to understand the situation and serve as evidences for future legal action.