Falun Gong Human Rights Newsletter Issue 11
Issue 11, 2005 A Father Thrown
into a Labor Camp after A Repatriation into Devastation On March 7, 2005, the Central Deportation Department of
Northern Bavaria repatriated Falun Gong practitioners Mr. Jiang Renzheng
and Ms. Guo Rui, and their two children, back to the waiting jaws of the
Chinese police. Ms. Guo Rui, Mr. Jiang Renzheng,
and their two sons The sudden descent of terror also devastated the
elderly parents of Mr. Jiang and Ms. Guo. They were often in tears, and
could not understand how their law-abiding children could be so
mistreated. In addition, the police interrogated Mr. Jiang's father. German Authorities in Denial The cold facts were not enough to make the German
officials, who have condemned this family to such misery, to face the
tragic reality caused by their decisions. Instead, they are in denial.
Despite a German media report of Mr. Jiang's sentencing to the forced
labor camp, transcripts of phone calls to China to Mr. Jiang, Ms. Guo, and
Mr. Jiang's father, and other information provided by German Falun Gong
practitioners, the officials who caused the repatriation of Mr. Jiang's
family-including officials from the Federal Office for Migration and
Refugees in Nuernberg; Federal Office for the Recognition of Foreign
Refugees, Wuerzburg branch; Administrative Authority for Foreigners in
Wuerzburg; the Central Deportation Department of Northern Bavaria; the
Petition Committee of the Bavarian Landtag (State Parlianment); the
Petition Committee of the German Bundestag (German Federal Parliament);
and judges from Bavarian Administrative Court in Wuerzburg, the Bavarian
Administrative Court in Munich, and the Bundesverfassungsgericht (Federal
Constitutional Court)-simply deemed those facts unreliable. The Unfeeling German
Officials This is not the only time that the German authorities
have rejected valid information provided by Falun Gong practitioners. The
German Falun Gong Association, formally registered by Falun Gong
practitioners in Germany, had repeatedly provided various German
authorities with information about the severe and extensive human rights
violations against Falun Gong practitioners in China, and testified that
Mr. Jiang's family would face substantial danger of being persecuted. Over
140 Falun Gong practitioners in Germany appealed to the Petition Committee
of the German Bundestag and also signed affidavits to bear witness that
Mr. Jiang and Ms. Guo are genuine Falun Gong practitioners. The German
authorities ignored all of these. Current
Persecution in China One example is Judge Duemig of the Administrative Court
in Wuerzburg. In his verdict on Jiang's petition on August 6, 2004, he
wrote: "It cannot be automatically assumed that every
Falun Gong practitioner will get arrested, because of the large number of
Falun Gong movement adherents." That argument, if valid, would serve to deny asylum
application from any persecuted group, because not every Jew was sent to a
Nazi concentration camp, not every Tutsi was killed in Rwanda, and not
every member of one ethnic group was "cleansed" by the other
ethnic group in former Yugoslavia. Judge Duemig also wrote: "Even if the plaintiff
would still continue to practice Falun Gong after returning to China, it
is unlikely that he would have to worry about being persecuted if he just
practiced Falun Gong secluded at home." Previously, only the Chinese government had used this
excuse to justify its persecution. It is unclear on what basis the judge
drew his argument, as the Chinese government's persecution is a nationwide
assault aimed to "eradicate Falun Gong" and thus targets all
Falun Gong practitioners, not only those who practice outdoors. What is
clear from the judge's argument is that he is at least aware of the
persecution of those who practice Falun Gong outdoors. How, then, can a
judge of the court of justice fashion an argument that in effect limits
someone's exercise of basic rights to be done only "at home"?
Does he not realize that such a restriction is in itself a violation of
human rights? The judge's insensitivity was further illustrated by
his disregard and mockery of Falun Gong practitioners' efforts for Mr.
Jiang's safety: "The court assumes, contrary to the almost missionary
eagerness that the Falun Gong practitioners who served as witnesses
expressed during the oral hearing, that the plaintiff is merely practicing
Falun Gong to be granted asylum." The tragic ending of Mr. Jiang's
family's asylum application shows that the dedication of Falun Gong
practitioners to defend fundamental human rights must not be ridiculed. Mr. Jiang's Applications for
Asylum: A Story within a Story A key argument of the German authorities in denying Mr.
Jiang and Ms. Guo's asylum application is that they began practicing Falun
Gong after coming to Germany, and that their claim of being Falun Gong
practitioners could not be trusted. It is true that Mr. Jiang and Ms. Guo started to
practice Falun Gong after they left China. In fact, they started
practicing Falun Gong after they had filed asylum applications, first in
Germany and then in Norway, with falsified information. However, that they
were able to face their past flaws and step forward with corrective
actions after practicing Falun Gong in itself illustrates what Falun Gong
is about. Ms. Guo and Mr. Jiang came to study in Germany in
October and November of 2001, respectively. In November 2002, wanting to
stay in Germany, they falsified a Chinese government warrant and used it
to apply for asylum in Germany. Soon after that, however, they were
frightened by their own misconduct and fled to Norway to stay with Mr.
Jiang's uncle and aunt. While in Norway they applied for asylum again, and
used fake names at that time. Mr. Jiang's uncle and aunt are Falun Gong
practitioners. In April 2001, they fled to Cambodia to escape the Chinese
government's persecution. However, they were still followed and threatened
by the Chinese agents in Cambodia. On August 2, 2002, Chinese agents
abducted two of their Falun Gong friends back to China. Two weeks later,
several Chinese agents came to their home to search for them; fortunately,
they were not home at the time, and their neighbor alerted them. With an
urgent intervention from the Office of the United Nations High
Commissioner for Refugees, they were relocated to Norway. While staying with their uncle and aunt, Mr. Jiang and
Ms. Guo learned and began to practice Falun Gong. From reading Falun Gong
books, they realized that what they had done in their asylum applications
was wrong and against Falun Gong's principle of
Truth-Benevolence-Forbearance. Because of their newfound understanding,
they found the courage to admit and correct their mistakes, and provided
truthful information to the Norwegian authorities. As Mr. Jiang learned more about the Chinese
government's violent persecution against Falun Gong practitioners in
China, he joined other practitioners to stage protests in front the
Chinese embassy in Oslo. He also participated in activities to expose the
Chinese government's severe human rights violations to the Norwegian
people and to appeal for help for Falun Gong practitioners in China. While
in a refugee camp in Norway, Mr. Jiang also worked with a Norwegian
refugee officer to prepare a special Falun Gong section for the camp's
newspaper. On July 13, 2003, Mr. Jiang
practised the exercises with other practitioners outside the
Chinese Embassy in Oslo. At the time of their application, over 1500 Falun Gong
practitioners had been confirmed to have died at the hands of Chinese
police, and there was overwhelming information, including many reports by
the Special Rapporteurs of the United Nations Human Rights Commission, on
the consistent pattern of gross, flagrant, and mass violations of human
rights against Falun Gong practitioners in China. In addition, there have been cases of German Falun Gong
practitioners being persecuted when they were in China. Ms. Xiong Wei, who
studied at the Technical University of Berlin from 1993 to 1999 and
returned to China to work for the German company Buderus in 2002, was
arrested by Chinese police on January 5, 2002, and sentenced to two years
in a forced labor camp. She was subjected to severe beatings, mental
torture, and hard labor. She was rescued back to Germany in September
2004. Another German Falun Gong practitioner, Mr. Zhang Junan, was
followed and threatened by Chinese security agents when he and his German
wife visited China in April 2002. The Chinese agents searched their
luggage and confiscated their Falun Gong books. The Chinese agents also
tried to force them to renounce Falun Gong and assist the Chinese
authorities to collect information on Falun Gong activities in Germany.
The Chinese agents also threatened them not to publicize how they had been
treated in China, and intimidated them by saying that they would not have
been treated so "leniently" had they not been German citizens. Falun Gong practitioners from other countries were also
persecuted in China. Ms. Zhang Cuiying, an Australian citizen, was
arrested by Chinese police on March 5, 2000, and was thrown in jail for
more than eight months, simply because she went back to China to appeal
for Falun Gong. She suffered severe torture and sexual abuse. Dr. Charles
Lee, an American citizen, was sentenced to three years in jail in Nanjing,
China in March 2002. He is still in jail, and has suffered physical and
mental torture. Ms. Zhang Xinyi and her husband, Mr. Li Guojun, who were
granted refugee status by the United Nations Refugee Agency in Cambodia,
were kidnapped in Phnom Penh on August 2, 2002, returned to China on
August 9, and put in jail. To support Mr. Jiang and Ms. Guo's asylum application,
over 140 German practitioners signed affidavits to bear witness that Mr.
Jiang and Ms. Guo are genuine Falun Gong practitioners. The German courts, however, refused to recognize these
facts. In fact, Judge Duemig went as far as suspecting that an officer of
the Norwegian refugee camp was bribed by Mr. Jiang and thus rejected her
testimony of Mr. Jiang having helped her prepare a special Falun Gong
section in the camp's newsletter. Some Unanswered Questions The German courts' willful handling of Mr. Jiang and
Ms. Guo's family asylum application raises the question of what proof the
courts would need from German Falun Gong practitioners to show that,
first, Mr. Jiang and Ms. Guo are Falun Gong practitioners, and second,
Falun Gong practitioners are suffering a gross, flagrant, and mass
violation of human rights in China. Some other actions of the German authorities are also
questionable. Mr. Dieter Schmutzler, an officer of the Administrative
Authority for Foreigners in Wuerzburg, repeatedly forced Mr. Jiang and Ms.
Guo to go to the Chinese consulate in Munich, but refused to tell them the
reason. Once he threatened to separate Mr. Jiang from his wife and
children if he did not comply, and threatened to deprive Mr. Jiang of his
asylum money allowance. He also delayed extending Mr. Jiang's residence
permit and then used it as an excuse to call two policemen to arrest him
at the asylum home. On July 29, 2004, Mr. Schmutzler once more tried to
force Ms. Guo to go to the Chinese consulate. When Ms. Guo informed him
that she would wait for the court hearing on August 3, Mr. Schmutzler told
her that she would not win anything. Falun
Gong Human Rights Working Group http://www.flghrwg.net/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=1188&Itemid=83
German Authorities Send Family Back to China
This was the end of the Jiang family's hope for safety in Germany, and
just the beginning of their nightmare in China. Contrary to the verdict of
the Bavarian Administrative Court in Wuerzburg that "It will be
highly unlikely that [Mr. Jiang and Ms. Guo] will have to fear persecution
upon returning to China," the couple faced persecution the moment
they stepped off the airplane. The Chinese police interrogated them for
information about Falun Gong activities in Germany, and attempted to
coerce them to renounce their belief in Falun Gong. After one month of
continuous harassment and intimidation, on April 8, 2005, the police
detained Mr. Jiang and sentenced him to three years of forced labor at the
Benxi Labor Camp.
What is more chilling is how the German authorities rejected the pleas of
Falun Gong practitioners.
In the Longshan Forced Labor Camp, the police shocked Ms. Gao
Rongrong's face with three electric batons
continuously for seven hours, burning her face to a crisp.
The picture was taken ten days after the heinous torture.
After the torture was exposed to the public the police
searched everywhere for her and arrested her again. She
has since "disappeared."
Ms. Wang Xia was sentenced to seven years of forced
labor for telling people about Falun Gong. She was
forcibly injected with nerve-damaging drugs. Two years of
continuous torture reduced Ms. Wang to just skin and
bones; she weighed only 45 pounds and was on the verge of
death at the time of her release.
Mr. Pan Xingfu, a Trans-century Model Worker in the
Postal and Telecommunications System in Heilongjiang
Province, was tortured for practicing Falun Gong. During
his detention, he was starved until he weighed only around
40 kg. He was admitted as a TB in-patient. His diagnosis
was TB type pleurisy and lung tissue damage. Finally, Mr.
Pan Xingfu died on January 31, 2005.
In January 2004, the family was returned to Germany. As they had done in
Norway, they informed the German authorities of their falsified
information and provided truthful information. They also filed a new
asylum application at the Federal Office for the Recognition of Foreign
Refugees, Wuerzburg branch, based on their practice of Falun Gong and
their participation in Falun Gong activities.
9974 Scripps Ranch Blvd. #228, San Diego, California, 92131, United States
Phone: 619-280-5177, Fax: 619-280-4931, E-mail: info@falunhr.org
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