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German Federal Department of Domestic Affairs Admits the Illegality of Its Behavior and Reaches an Agreement with Falun Gong Practitioners (Clearwisdom.net) Clearwisdom.net reporter Zhou Yu reports from
Germany: On April 26, 2004, the Federal Department of Domestic Affairs, in
charge of the security of visiting heads of state, formally admitted that its
treatment of Falun Gong practitioners during the visit of former Chinese
president Jiang Zemin in April 2002 was illegal. The German Falun Dafa
Association welcomed this forthright admission. The two parties reached an
agreement proposed by the judge in Berlin's Administrative Court. At this time,
the complaint filed by Falun Gong practitioners against German Federal Police on
March 13, 2003 was formally resolved. In April 2002, while Jiang Zemin was visiting Germany, Falun Gong
practitioners held large-scale protest activities in Berlin. They held up
banners in Chinese reading, "Falun Dafa is Good,"
"Truthfulness-Compassion-Tolerance" and "Stop the Persecution of
Falun Gong." The police, who did not understand Chinese, were misled by
Jiang's entourage. According to police officers, Jiang threatened to stop the
state visit, claiming he was "insulted" by the banners. As a result,
the police were instructed to remove Falun Gong practitioners staying in the
same hotel as Jiang. During Jiang's visit on April 9 and 10, 2002, the federal police broke into
the hotel rooms of Falun Gong practitioners without their consent, for the
purpose of preventing the visiting Chinese president from having his reputation
damaged. Representatives of the Federal Department of Domestic Affairs admitted
in the agreement that this behavior was illegal. At the same time, they also
admitted that such action violated Article 13 of the German Constitution, which
states that an individuals' residence should not be invaded. Moreover, they
agreed that the protest activities held by Falun Gong practitioners should be
protected by Item 1 of Article 5 of the German Constitution, which stipulates
that individuals have freedom of speech. Falun Gong practitioners in Germany were pleased with the German government's
attitude and the judicial system's resolution. Mr. Wu, president of the German
Falun Dafa Association, said that Jiang's persecution of Falun Gong is
completely based on lies and slander. He also pointed out that the documents
submitted by the police to the court indicated that the Chinese authorities
informed the German police before Jiang's arrival that, "According to
reliable sources, Falun Gong plans to interrupt Jiang's visit.... Falun Gong
also issued orders to its branches in neighboring countries of Germany to
dispatch members to Germany to disturb the visit... We cannot exclude the
possibility that Falun Gong members resort to violence." Such false
information clearly caused the unnecessary tension from the German police. Representatives of the Federal Department of Domestic Affairs said that Falun
Gong practitioners had not resorted to any violence during their protest against
the persecution. Posting date: 5/2/2004 |