(Clearwisdom.net) Regarding the recent shooting incident in South Africa, on July 1st, 2004, the Swiss Falun Gong Association wrote a letter to Mr. Joseph Deiss, Swiss Federation President and the Minister of the Economy.
Honorable Mr. President,
We are profoundly shocked to learn that Australian Falun Gong practitioners were
shot at in Pretoria when they went to South Africa in an effort to expose the
atrocities against Falun Gong by the Jiang group and to file a lawsuit against
the two visiting Chinese high-ranking officials directly involved in the
persecution of Falun Gong. One of the two accused is China's Vice-president, the
other the Minister of Commerce. Both of them had issued orders to arrest and
torture Falun Gong practitioners in China. They have played a major role in
planning and executing the persecution of Falun Gong. As a result of their
evildoing, over one thousand Falun Gong practitioners were imprisoned in labor
camps.
When leaving the airport, these Australian practitioners were followed secretly
by a white car. When the white car was closely following them, the people in the
white car suddenly opened fire, targeting our practitioners. One of them, the
driver, was shot in his feet so that he could no longer control the car. When he
pulled over, the white car escaped immediately. Undoubtedly these gunmen must
have been hired by Jiang's group to stop our practitioners from exposing the
persecution against Falun Gong and filing a lawsuit against the visiting heads
in South Africa. This act of terrorism confirms our judgement that the entire
incident was premeditated and had been deliberately planned. Otherwise, how
could these gunmen keep a close watch on the practitioners' car right after they
were leaving the airport and open fire at those wearing yellow and blue
clothing? Yellow and blue are the colors of Falun Gong clothing, on which are
often inscribed the words "Falun Dafa."
We believe that this shooting incident is an act of terrorism. We feel
profoundly shocked by the brutal methods employed by the Jiang group to
eradicate Falun Gong inside and outside China. In March, 2002, Jiang Zemin
issued an order to shoot at Falun Gong practitioners. However, South Africa is
not part of China. This shooting incident indicates that the Jiang group
employed hired gunmen to attack Falun Gong practitioners, just like China used
money to buy the votes of poor nations during the meeting of the UN Commission
on Human Rights.
As far as we are concerned, this shooting incident is very serious. The Jiang
group has the audacity to attack Falun Gong practitioners overseas, which should
never have been allowed. Otherwise, who knows which one of us will be the next
victim? Where will the next tragedy happen? Will we become their next target?
How could we tolerate these perpetrators who defied human and divine laws and
violated international conventions, international law and also the law of the
country they visited. These perpetrators attacked the practitioners just because
they went to South Africa in their attempt to file a lawsuit against the
perpetrators and to bring them to justice. What on earth are the perpetrators
trying to hide from the public? Falun Gong practitioners expose the persecution
to the public. What is happening in China? Why did they commit this kind of
atrocity against practitioners? This criminal act only proves that they will do
whatever they want to. In China, they even change the law at will. In fact,
three months after their persecution of Falun Gong started, the Chinese national
legislature hastily pushed through an "anti-[slanderous term omitted]" law to
criminalize Falun Gong.
Mr. President, we hope that you can understand how we feel: this shocking
incident suggests that the Jiang group is pushing the atrocities against Falun
Gong practitioners worldwide to a higher level. Falun Gong practitioners are
very peaceful, never resort to violence and would not hit back when being
attacked. They will never take revenge against those who inflicted atrocities on
them. We hope that this shooting incident will enable our government to
understand the brutal persecution against Falun Gong by the Jiang group and
further, to take action to condemn their criminal behavior. For example, our
government could release an official statement to condemn this criminal act. We
should not delay our action until something like this happens to us in
Switzerland. If we do not take immediate action it seems that we are allowing
the Jiang group to commit another crime. We should have them understand that the
persecution against Falun Gong is in violation of the law, and the perpetrators
will surely be brought to justice. Because this act of terrorism is against our
law and threatens each individual's civic rights, we hope that our government
can take precautionary measures to protect our citizens from harm in any
location.
We hope that you can take some time out of your busy schedule to meet with us,
so that we can personally detail the shooting incident to you and express to you
our concerns over the incident. Mr. President, we appreciate your attention to
this letter and look forward to your reply.