Falun Gong denounce abuses by Chinese authorities

the Chinese government banned Falun Gong from China on July 22, 1999, calling it a notorious cult with an evil political will.The Ministry of Public Security accused Falun Gong founder Li Hung-zhi with “spreading superstition and malicious fallacies to deceive people, resulting in the deaths of many practitioners.”The Falun Gong counters with its own figures: 50,000 people arrested, 10,000 sent to labour camps or interned in psychiatric hospitals and 208 persons tortured to death by the Chinese authorities. “Millions of people in China are suffering abuses,” Falun Gong international spokesman Erping Zhang said in a press conference hosted by anti-death penalty NGO Hands off Cain at its Rome branch. The repression against the Falun Gong turned the nation upside down just as the cultural revolution had done in the 60s. The Chinese authorities arrested hundreds of members and searched their homes in raids conducted in the middle of the night when the practice was banned. However the movement survived and has now spread to over 40 countries. “We’re here today speaking to you, but the ordinary Chinese citizen has no such opportunity, as all the media are state-controlled,” said Zhang, a New York-based business consultant currently touring Italy giving seminars on the Falun Gong movement. “Falun Gong is a ancient and traditional Chinese practice. We are not a religion, we have no organisation or rituals. Anyone can come and practice, and leave when they like. The only way we communicate is through the Internet, just like a biking or jogging club. “But we have a strong belief in compassion, truth and forbearance, and we believe this belief is valid for all cultures. These principles will help us to improve our physical or spiritual health.“We also think the development of morality is important and in this respect we are similar to a religion. We respect religions and feel solidarity with the persecuted ones because we believe one should be free to believe or otherwise, as even the Chinese Constitution says,” Zhang said. Falun Gong called for the international community to focus its attention on the human rights abuses of its members in China, as the US, Canada UK, Australia and other countries are already doing.Alfredo Fava, an Italian practitioner, called for a more in-depth treatment of the movement in the Italian media, which, he said, wrongly defines Falun Gong as a sect. European MP Marco Pannella invited founder Li Hung-zhi to visit Italy, and requested the next Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, and President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi to receive him officially. Hands off Cain’s international secretary Sergio D’Elia denounced the death penalty process and the number of executions in China, which totalled over 400 in April alone. Elisabetta Zamparutti, editor of Hands off Cain’s annual report, re-launched Hands off Cain’s online campaign for a moratorium on capital executions through a UN resolution. Signatures are nearing the 15,000 mark since the campaign’s launch on March 15, and over 40 websites are hosting the campaign banner. Falun Gong will also host the banner on its websites worldwide, though access to them from China is forbidden.