By Yves Dumas

Epoch Times Staff

Jul 24, 2005

Brussels - Two Belgian adherents of the Chinese spiritual practice of Falun Gong filed a complaint in the Brussels Justice Palace against four high-ranking Chinese Communist Party officials last week.

Mr. Nicolas Schols and Ms. Shi Yuhong initiated the complaint in response to several waves of phone calls defaming Falun Gong and urging people to dissociate from the practice.

The first batch of calls began a few days prior to the Chinese Lunar New Year in early February. The recorded calls, which recipients described as containing threatening and slandering messages in both English and Chinese, were received on four continents, including over 20 European countries. Some individuals received multiple calls.

In all, hundreds of individuals around the world received the calls within a few hours of each other, suggesting that the calls were part of a well-planned and coordinated effort. The calling numbers often started with 0086, China's country code.

The phone messages began shortly after the publication of the "Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party," a series of editorials denouncing the CCP, including its persecution of Falun Gong. The commentaries, published at the end of 2004 by The Epoch Times, have received an enthusiastic response with more than three million Chinese openly renouncing their association with the CCP as a result.

Those who received the calls say they believe that the CCP, enraged by the commentaries and the public renunciations, attempted to silence Falun Gong through a global phone harassment campaign. The lawyer in the case filed in Brussels, Mr. Beauthier, stated that the persecution of Falun Gong in China still continues after six years.

"Last year we also filed a complaint in France against the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners in China," Beauthier said. "That complaint was accepted by the French legal system and a rogatory [investigative] commission was sent to China. This is an important step forward."

"Thanks to the complaints we filed, some Chinese officials responsible for the persecution don't dare to come to Belgium anymore," he said. "In this way they realize the world is watching them".

Source http://theepochtimes.com/news/5-7-24/30534.html

Posting date: 7/27/2005
Original article date: 7/27/2005
Category: News & Media Reports

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