Belgium: Falun Gong Practitioners Filed a Lawsuit Against CCP Officials for Telephone Harassment

On Tuesday July 19th 2005, Mr. Georges-Henri Beauthier, a prestigious human rights lawyer, filed a lawsuit on behalf of two Falun Gong practitioners in Brussels. The lawsuit was for the crime of harassment and was filed against China’s “6-10 Office” and the responsible Chinese officials: 6-10 Office head and member of the Committee of Political and Legislative Affairs Luo Gan, Minister of Public Security Zhou YongKang, Deputy Minister of Public Security Liu Jing and Minister of State Security Xu Yongyue. The lawsuit was filed on the eve of the 6th anniversary since Falun Gong was banned in China on July 20th 1999. The lawsuit has been accepted by the Belgian court.

Press Conference		Human Rights lawyer, Mr. Georges-Henri Beauthier

Similar to the Gestapo set up by the German Nazi party to persecute Jewish people, the “6-10 Office” was established by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to persecute Falun Gong practitioners. The CCP’s Committee of Political and Legislative Affairs, Ministry of Public Security and Ministry of State Security all participated in the persecution directly. Disregarding the law and adopting all of the means of persecution and suppression that the CCP has developed in over fifty years of tyranny, the “6-10 Office” has carried out a brutal persecution against Falun Gong practitioners for the past six years. Hundreds of thousands of Falun Gong practitioners have been illegally tortured or cruelly murdered in China. The resultant tragedies are so numerous that they can’t be fully documented. The persecution was later extended to foreign countries where a great number of Chinese spies were posted to monitor and harass Falun Gong practitioners.

In early February, Falun Gong practitioners in over twenty countries around the world received harassing phone calls from unidentified sources. In Chinese or English, the voice recording carried the CCP’s slanderous propaganda against Falun Gong. The two Belgian practitioners who filed the lawsuit also received these phone calls. In a press conference held at the Belgian court, the plaintiffs gave detailed accounts of the phone harassment.

Between February 2nd and February 11th 2005, one of the plaintiffs received several dozen recorded messages on his mobile phone from unidentified sources. At its peak, eight calls were received in a single day. The content of the harassing calls was a voice recording that defamed Falun Gong. The phone calls also intimidated the recipient to stop practising. The plaintiff said, “I know the Chinese Communist regime has been monitoring me for a long time. They never approved my visa application for visiting China.”

Another plaintiff also received similar recorded phone calls from China. The number of phone calls reached several dozen each day. The plaintiff pointed out that the Chinese Communist regime attempted to harass and terrify her through these phone calls. The reason for the harassment is that the recent publication of a special editorial series called “Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party” by The Epoch Times newspaper has resulted in over 3 million people withdrawing from the CCP and has left the Chinese Communist regime in a panic. As a result, the CCP carried out their harassment.

Mr. Georges-Henri Beauthier filed a lawsuit against Jiang Zemin, Li Lanqing and Luo Gan for crimes of "torture, crimes against humanity and genocide” on behalf of Falun Gong practitioners in Belgium two years ago. He said in the press conference, “Judging from the contents of the voice recording and the measures they resorted to, it is clear that the Chinese Communist authorities have been manipulating behind the scenes. The Chinese Communist regime has dispatched a great number of spies to foreign countries for espionage activities, including monitoring Falun Gong practitioners and political dissidents. Recently, a lot of them were found in Australia, Canada and Europe.”

Mr. Beauthier emphasised, “This kind of harassment violates Belgian law and international practice. It imposes a great challenge against our belief and freedom. This threatening conduct should be stopped, at least in Belgium.” When asked by reporters about the prospect of the lawsuit, Mr. Beauthier commented, “It all depends on the Chinese Government and the reactions of the European governments. We look forward to seeing trials in Europe against the continuous human rights infringements in China.” So far, there have been over fifty lawsuits filed in thirty two countries around the world against the prime culprits of the persecution against Falun Gong.

At the end of the press conference, Mr. Beauthier said, “We have filed a complaint against the responsible people who persecuted Falun Gong over here before. The defendants didn’t dare to come to Belgium. Not long ago, a defendant was prosecuted in France immediately after his arrival. As a result, the defendant fled from France hurriedly. We will continue to push ahead these lawsuits in Belgium and other countries.”

News media, including the Belga News Agency, NTDTV and The Epoch Times all dispatched correspondents to provide coverage of this event.