On February 3, 2004, the Ontario Superior Court in Canada reached a verdict in the libel lawsuit against Pan Xinchun, the Chinese Deputy Consul General in Toronto. The judge ruled in favour of Toronto Falun Gong practitioner Mr. Joel Chipkar. The court also ordered Pan Xinchun, who failed to show up in court, to compensate for damage incurred by his libel.
On May 1, 2003, Pan Xinchun published a letter in the Toronto Star. He made excuses for China's cover-up of SARS. In doing so, he used slanderous words to attack Mr. Chipkar and other Falun Gong practitioners. In August, a lawsuit was filed against Pan for libel.
The Ontario Superior Court's verdict in this civil lawsuit appears simple. However, it has a deep significance. The plaintiff is an ordinary Canadian citizen, while the defendant is a Consular Officer of China. In traditional Chinese ideology, this is a typical case of "suing a government officer by a civilian." As a defendant, the officer did not dare to show up in court. It was also the officer who lost the case. This is very meaningful in itself. As a peaceful and compassionate cultivation group, Falun Gong has been persecuted widely and severely in China. In western countries, however, people ranging from government officials to ordinary citizens are sympathetic toward Falun Gong and like it. Such a clear contrast has attracted much attention.
A Warning to Diplomatic Officers Who Instigate Hate Propaganda under Diplomatic Immunity
During this lawsuit, according to Canadian laws, the defendant's libel of the plaintiff was in violation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Canada acceded on May 19, 1976. Through his refusing to accept lawsuit files and show up in court, we can see Deputy Consul General Pan Xinchun's fear of having his actions exposed. This verdict sent a warning out to those diplomatic officers who instigated the persecution, while hoping to use their diplomatic immunity as an umbrella.
In China, defaming Falun Gong in public has become Jiang's primary propaganda tool. "Truth, Compassion, and Tolerance" is the object of slander on radio and TV stations, in newspapers, and even in elementary school textbooks. Meanwhile, Falun Gong practitioners are deprived of the most basic human rights and dignity. For a simple appeal, saying "Falun Dafa is good" in public, or even mentioning Falun Gong in emails to one's family can send someone to jail, and even their family members could be affected. In addition to unlawful imprisonment, Falun Gong practitioners' rights to appeal and defend themselves are often taken away. The regulations that separated and broke apart practitioners' families were some so-called "policies" made by Jiang via the People's Congress. Such "policies" severely violated the constitution as well as international human rights covenants. As Western media documented, after the persecution began, the Jiang regime created laws to ban Falun Gong and applied them retroactively to imprison practitioners.
The Canadian government clearly stated they would not intervene in the lawsuit against Pan Xinchun. This demonstrates the independence and impartiality of the judicial system in Canada. Moreover, further efforts to bring those persecutors to justice are also taking place in Canada. According to articles in the Ottawa Citizen and the Vancouver Sun on January 21, 2004, "The RCMP is keeping a watch list of 15 high-ranking Chinese officials, accused of torturing and oppressing members of the Falun Gong spiritual movement. If any of the officials sets foot in Canada, the RCMP will 'look into' their alleged criminal actions. Constable Nathalie Deschenes said, 'Under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, applicants cannot be admitted to Canada if there are reasonable grounds to believe they have perpetrated a crime against humanity'... 'The list of accused includes Jiang Zemin, the 72-year-old former president of China and now chairman of the country's Central Military Commission, and Liu Qi, the mayor of Beijing.'"
The Sinister Force behind the Hate Propaganda
Some people may wonder how Deputy Consul General Pan Xinchun dared to defame a peaceful meditation group, and even publicly attack a Falun Gong practitioner in the western media? The reason that Pan dared to do so is because defaming and persecuting Falun Gong, as well as generating hate propaganda, have become a special "responsibility" for Chinese diplomatic officers overseas. This can be seen from the content and links on their websites, slanderous posters inside the embassy or consulate buildings, and from the materials they send to local VIPs, media or community libraries. This can also be seen in the activities they have organized, including the so-called "religious delegates" and "cultural delegates."
However, such hate propaganda and persecution are consistently and firmly opposed in civilized societies. In Canada, such opposition comes not only from Falun Gong practitioners, but also from mainstream society and government officials. After receiving hate propaganda from China, many officials saw through their lies and publicly denounced them.
Who is the Next Defendant?
In fact, if people knew where Pan's slanderous words came from, they would not be surprised that Pan dared to do so with no fear.
In mainland China, after July 20th, 1999, many Chinese people were tired of the persecution and propaganda tactics in the style of the Cultural Revolution. At the end of October 1999, when Jiang was interviewed by Le Figaro, he defamed Falun Gong publicly. People's Daily, the official propaganda machine for the Communist party, echoed Jiang's slander closely, and made up so-called evidence to support Jiang's speech. Five days after Jiang's defaming Falun Gong, the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress approved a resolution. By having the people's congress pass a resolution, Jiang finished laying a foundation to justify his genocidal persecution of Falun Gong.
More than 4 years have passed and Jiang continues to persecute innocent practitioners on a large scale via the "610 Office," using the policy of "ruining their reputations, bankrupting them, and destroying them physically." There are labour camps and brainwashing centres everywhere across China. Jiang is utilizing one quarter of the nation's economic resources to persecute tens of millions of practitioners. In fact, throughout the persecution, Pan Xinchun is a person who has done bad deeds, but he is also a victim. The ultimate criminal in the persecution is Jiang. However, everyone is responsible for his own actions. In a society governed by the rule of law, anyone who is involved in this persecution, no matter in what form, will be held accountable.
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