The Petitions Committee of the Chamber of Deputies of the Czech Republic held a public hearing on 8 June 2021, with several experts on China and representatives of non-governmental organisations. Victims of the Communist Party’s violent repression in China also gave their testimony by proxy.
The hearing was organised on the basis of a petition signed by more than 150,000 citizens of the Czech Republic in the past 20 years, according to the Petitions Committee. The petition calls for an end to violent repression of practitioners of Falun Gong meditation practice, who are being severely persecuted by the Communist Party regime in China.
The Committee calls on the Chinese government to immediately halt the persecution of Falun Gong and unconditionally release all wrongly held prisoners practising Falun Gong.
At the end of the hearing, the Committee on Petitions called the Chinese government, “to respect the international norms and the international pact of the United Nations on civil and political rights to which China is a signatory, and to immediately halt the persecution of Falun Gong in China and unconditionally release all wrongfully held prisoners practising Falun Gong.“
The results of investigative reports or the European Parliament’s resolution on cases of abuse of prisoners of conscience in China for organ transplants were also discussed during the hearing.
In a final statement, the Committee advised the Chamber of Deputies to “oppose the persecution of Falun Gong or express moral support for people who are persecuted, tortured and killed for their organs in China simply because they are engaged in Falun Gong meditation practice”.
The first evidence of abuse of Falun Gong detainees as involuntary organ donors was presented in 2006 by Canadians Kilgour and Matas. A number of investigative reports were later summarised in a comprehensive 800-page report from 2016 and discussed at the London International Judicial Tribunal in 2019.
The Petitions Committee of the Chamber of Deputies of the Czech Republic held a public hearing on 8 June 2021, with several experts on China, representatives of NGOs and victims of the Communist Party’s violent repression in China. (Lukáš Kruťa Epoch Times)
Czech branch of international human rights organisation Amnesty International “calls on the People’s Republic of China to respect human rights and to stop the persecution of political prisoners, human rights defenders, ethnic and religious minorities, including those who practice their religion in ways other than the officially sanctioned – that is, the Falun Gong.”
According to Amnesty International, even in 2020, people practicing Falun Gong continued to be persecuted, arbitrarily detained, subjected to unfair trials, torture and other ill-treatment.
The Chairwoman of Falun Gong Asociation in the Czech Republic Veronika Sunová said, that “Falun Gong practitioners have been viciously persecuted, tortured, killed and used for commercial transplants by the Chinese regime for 22 years, several independent investigations have confirmed it. If we remain silent before that crimes, so as not to lose status, power, financial advantages and economic gain, we are shaping our future. We believe that doing the right and kind things will bring a good future to the people. But what future will there be for a country that quietly trades justice for money or basic human rights for economic benefits and moral values for silence? And so, when we ask you to stand up for the tortured Falun Gong practitioners, we ask you to do a good thing for our society and its good future.”
Member of Parliament, member of the Petition Committee and the Mayor of the city district Prague 7, Jan Čižinský siad: “We usually get petitions asking for something for those who petition. This is a petition asking for something for other people and even for people from another country. I want to strongly support this, because we cannot stand idly by such terrible crimes against Falun Gong practitioners.”
Repressions in China in 2020
The Chinese regime persecuted more than 15,000 Falun Gong supporters in 2020. The latest statistics from 2020 published by Minghui.org, NGO that monitors the development of repression in China, provide the following information:
At least 6,659 Falun Gong followers arrested and held. At least 88 died as a result of persecution. 622 convictions for Falun Gong faith, 537 people forced to attend courses in so-called political ‘education’. Chinese authorities searched the homes of 3,588 people.
More than 8,000 others have experienced some form of harassment by the police, house searches, seizures of books and materials on Falun Gong, or surveillance.
The Chinese regime seized a total of 9,849,097.56 yuan from Falun Gong followers. Most of the funds were seized by police confiscation or fines imposed by the courts.
