Chinese Authorities Illegally Sentenced 550+ Falun Gong Practitioners in 2010
Created: Feb 24 2011
Related articles: China
The Chinese regime continues to violate its own laws in its persecution of the Falun Gong spiritual practice, according to overseas rights groups.
The Minghui website provides a platform for Falun Gong practitioners to give accounts of the persecution. The website reported last week that at least 550 Falun Gong practitioners in China were illegally sentenced to prison.
Spokesman for the Falun Gong Human Rights Working Group, Chen Shizhong says many victims are abducted, and sent to trial without due process.
[Chen Shizhong, Falun Gong Human Rights Working Group Spokesman]:
“The Chinese regime’s ten-plus years of the persecution of Falun Gong has never been based on the law. It does not abide by the law. Its aim of persecuting Falun Gong is to force them to give up their belief.”
Falun Gong was popular throughout China during the 1990s. In 1999, in an extra-judicial move, the leader of the Chinese Communist Party Jiang Zemin banned Falun Gong vowing to eradicate the practice. Since then, Falun Gong practitioners have suffered numerous abuses, including arbitrary detention and torture. To date, at least 3,400 practitioners have died from the persecution.
Rights group Falun Dafa Information Center reports the Chinese regime’s persecution violates its own constitution and criminal law. That violation also extends to individuals who speak up for Falun Gong, like rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng.
[Chen Shizhong, Falun Gong Human Rights Working Group Spokesman]:
“We have given a lot of cases to the United Nations Special Rapporteurs, and they have always sternly condemned the Chinese Communist Party hiding behind the law to persecute Falun Gong.”
In one case reported by Minghui last year, a 72-year-old Falun Gong practitioner from Sichuan was illegally sentenced to 12 years in prison. At least 94 practitioners were given prison sentences of more than seven years.
The Minghui website provides a platform for Falun Gong practitioners to give accounts of the persecution. The website reported last week that at least 550 Falun Gong practitioners in China were illegally sentenced to prison.
Spokesman for the Falun Gong Human Rights Working Group, Chen Shizhong says many victims are abducted, and sent to trial without due process.
[Chen Shizhong, Falun Gong Human Rights Working Group Spokesman]:
“The Chinese regime’s ten-plus years of the persecution of Falun Gong has never been based on the law. It does not abide by the law. Its aim of persecuting Falun Gong is to force them to give up their belief.”
Falun Gong was popular throughout China during the 1990s. In 1999, in an extra-judicial move, the leader of the Chinese Communist Party Jiang Zemin banned Falun Gong vowing to eradicate the practice. Since then, Falun Gong practitioners have suffered numerous abuses, including arbitrary detention and torture. To date, at least 3,400 practitioners have died from the persecution.
Rights group Falun Dafa Information Center reports the Chinese regime’s persecution violates its own constitution and criminal law. That violation also extends to individuals who speak up for Falun Gong, like rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng.
[Chen Shizhong, Falun Gong Human Rights Working Group Spokesman]:
“We have given a lot of cases to the United Nations Special Rapporteurs, and they have always sternly condemned the Chinese Communist Party hiding behind the law to persecute Falun Gong.”
In one case reported by Minghui last year, a 72-year-old Falun Gong practitioner from Sichuan was illegally sentenced to 12 years in prison. At least 94 practitioners were given prison sentences of more than seven years.
