The Epoch Times: Chinese Media Magnate Sued for Genocide Makes Appearance in Connecticut Court

By Xu Zhusi

Aug 06, 2004

Zhao Zhizhen, the former bureau chief of Wuhan Broadcasting and Wuhan Television, filed an Appearance with the United State District Court of Connecticut in New Haven, Connecticut on August 2, 2004. He applied for an extension to respond to the lawsuit. Meanwhile, several noted scholars analyzed the hate propaganda in the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) history of political movements for The Epoch Times.

According to the World Organization to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong (WOIPFG), in June 1999, under Zhao's supervision, staff from Wuhan TV Station went to Changchun, the hometown of Falun Gong's founder Li Hongzhi, and produced a film about Mr. Li. The film was later used as a tool to convince CCP leaders to persecute Falun Gong. The film has been the main propaganda tool used repeatedly by state-owned media to brainwash the Chinese people and as a basis for the torture and killing of Falun Gong practitioners.

At his August 2nd court appearance, Zhao claimed that he was leaving for China and asked the court to forward all future legal documents to his work address at the Wuhan TV station. He also asked the court to grant an extension for him to respond to the allegations citing that he is not competent in English.

According to the plaintiffs' attorneys, Zhao also filed a Motion For Extension of Time on July 30 citing reasons including language difficulty, lack of medical insurance in the U.S., and the need to organize the 2004 Beijing International Scientific Films Festival. The court has yet to give a ruling on Zhao's request.

The plaintiffs' attorneys argue that the defendant's only legitimate excuse is the language, and that the nearly four-month grace period requested is too long. Since the defendant could hire an attorney to represent him while he is in China, the legal process should not be delayed. She said that the plaintiffs are ready to proceed in court whenever the defendant is ready.

On July 13, Zhao was sued for producing films instigating and inciting hatred, violence, torture, and genocide against Falun Gong practitioners in China. On July 14, he was served with a summons at his residence in New Haven, Connecticut.

A call made to Zhao's cell phone was answered by a man who refused to give any comment regarding the case.

Zhao is only the second defendant in lawsuits filed by overseas Falun Gong practitioners to have appeared in court. On July 19, the former Minister of Education in China, Chen Zhili, appeared in a court in Tanzania. Numerous other Chinese officials have been sued for their participation in the persecution of Falun Gong in China but have refused to appear in court.

Hateful Words a Crime

The lawsuit of Falun Gong practitioners against the Chinese television magnate follows the International Criminal Tribunal's verdict on three Rwandan media executives who were found guilty of committing and inciting genocide and persecution. Judge Navanethem Pillay explained to the defendants, without a firearm, machete or any physical weapon, you caused "the death of thousands of innocent civilians."

Zhao's film was broadcast repeatedly nationwide in China starting on July 22,1999. Since then, more than 1,000 Falun Gong practitioners have died as result of the vigorous war the Chinese regime started against the meditation practice.

The plaintiffs' attorney Terri Marsh said, there is only one voice in China, whether it is produced by the Wuhan TV station, CCTV, or the Jiang regime itself. As in the Cultural Revolution, as with the Tiananmen Massacre, and as with the persecution of Falun Gong, the media "be it TV, radio, or newsprint "speaks with one voice determined not by the beliefs and views of the speakers, but dictated by the exigencies of the matter at hand. In this case, the matter at hand is the eradication of Falun Gong, and the alleged means "or tools " are the torture, the re-education and the defendant's and others' "propaganda." She said that the restricted and censored voice of the state run propaganda machine was not a species of what the Anglo-American legal system characterizes as "free speech." "Had speech been 'free' in China, there would have been no Cultural Revolution and no persecution of Falun Gong. It is precisely because speech is unfree that it can create the conditions calculated to bring about the destruction of and eradication of the belief in and practice of Falun Gong."

Former Chinese President Jiang Zemin told CBS' Mike Wallace the press in China is merely a "Mouthpiece of the Party" during a 60 Minutes interview on August 31, 2000. Jiang repeated the content of Zhao's film, alleging that the founder of Falun Gong, Mr. Li Hongzhi, said that he was higher than Jesus and the Buddha, that he preached "doomsday theory," and that Falun Gong practitioners caused harm to society. Jiang attempted to justify the persecution of Falun Gong with these accusations. Jiang has been sued for genocide of Falun Gong practitioners in the District Court of the Northern District of Illinois.

Regarding the allegations, Falun Gong's website argues that Mr. Li never made such a speech, and that "doomsday" theory was nowhere to be found in Falun Gong's books.

The WOIPFG investigation indicates that Zhao edited Mr. Li's speech to fit his needs and the cases like "practitioners" killing themselves were all fabricated.

Senior Lecturer Zhengguo Kang at the East Asian Study at Yale University said that since the establishment of the CCP in 1949, there has never been a practice participated by as many people as Falun Gong. Actually, it is because of the support originally from the CCP itself that Falun Gong gained so much popularity early on. In China, it is almost impossible for any forms of qigong to prevail without the support from the government. [Editor's note: The government's official policy towards qigong was 3 No's - "No support, no promotion, and no criticism." Falun Gong rapidly gained popularity because of its unique effect on healing illnesses and lifting people's morality. It's more accurate to say at the beginning Falun Gong did not have the government's opposition.] However, when too many people, including some CCP leaders, started to practice Falun Gong, the government wanted to take some action. This oppression of Falun Gong was actually out of protection of the authority and reflected a kind of jealousy. Kang said that all of the CCP's movements depend on propaganda. The anti-Falun Gong propaganda was no exception. It took advantage of Chinese people's mentality that once something is being regarded as blind belief, it may be labeled a "cult" and people may feel that the government's oppression is justified. Chinese also have "political complex" where they think that the government has right to oppress anything that being deemed political.

[...]

Yu-ming Chang, a former visiting professor at Yale Medical School, was labeled as anti-revolution for his belief of Jesus and inhumanly persecuted during the Great Cultural Revolution (1966-1976). Mr. Chang thinks that the CCP's propaganda serves political needs and rarely speaks the truth. Even some CCP members are living in terror.

The WOIPFG's report says that CCP propaganda is the reason behind the persecution of Falun Gong. The CCP's methods used include taking words out of context, fabricating stories, create false witnesses, and covering up the persecution. The government also brutally tortures or even kills practitioners who reveal the truth.

http://english.epochtimes.com/news/4-8-6/22767.html

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