PureInsight | March 12, 2013
[PureInsight.org] In April 2010, members of the Concentric Patriotism Association (CPA) of Taiwan, led by Qingjun Zhou, interfered with four Falun Gong practitioners when they were exercising their freedom of speech and expression in front of Building 101 in Taipei. A complaint was issued and the case was later brought forth and presented to the local procurate. Recently, Qingjun Zhou has been sentenced to a two month term of imprisonment and fines by the Taipei local court for using violence to interfere with other people’s exercising of rights.
One of the plaintiffs, Mr Chen, said about the case: “At around five o’clock in the afternoon, a car from the CPA stopped in front of a Falun Gong practitioner’s banner. Qingjun Zhou led seven men and one woman and walked towards the practitioner. One man grabbed his banner and knocked him down. He didn’t resist, instead he stood up to protect the banner. Before police appeared to stop the men, two of them knocked the practitioner down again and continuously made things difficult for the police. Fortunately, the head of the local police station on Wuxing Street came to take them away in the end. The other two Falun Gong practitioners’ freedom of speech was also interfered with by the defendant Qingjun Zhou as well.”
The Taipei local court declared it’s judgment on November 1, 2012: “The plaintiffs and other Falun Gong practitioners held posters and banners to express their freedom of speech to appeal for the Chinese Communist Party to stop persecuting Falun Gong. Defendant Qingjun Zhou had no right to hinder people from expressing their speech in the name of maintaining the appearance of the city…. As set forth, the plaintiffs failed to continue the poster and banner holding, and subsequently, their right of expressing their freedom of speech was interfered with…. Moreover, after the event the defendant denied his behavior, showed no remorse, and exhibited a poor manner. Considering his identity, moral conduct, degree of knowledge, means of crime, and his previous sentence administered by the same court which also relates to interfering with other people’s freedom of speech, the defendant is sentenced to the penalty as shown in the main body of the court verdict.”
It is reported that since March of 2009, pedestrians can see Falun Gong practitioners carrying banners and holding information boards everyday beside building 101 in Taipei. They hand out truth clarification materials to tourists from mainland China. These people from different walks of life who practice Falun Gong tell reporters that they hand out information about the truth regarding the CCP and its persecution of Falun Gong regardless of the weather. What they are doing is not only for the practitioners who are persecuted in China—they also hope that the Chinese people can be truly awakened when they get a clear understanding of the CCP’s nature of violence, deceit, and lies.
Taipei local court upholds constitutional rights of Falun Gong practitioners
Falun Gong human rights lawyer group spokeswoman Wanqi Zhu explained that the case clearly declared and upheld the constitutional rights of Falun Gong practitioners: “Article 11 of the Constitution guarantees that people have freedom of speech and publication, aiming at preserving the free spread of opinions, making it possible for people to gain sufficient information and realize themselves; the aim of preserving freedom of speech by the Constitution is also a guarantee for everyone to express themselves sufficiently and independently, which can then help to bring about diversification of social values and cultures. The state should respect equally for everyone’s speech in principle, but should not give different treatment according to quantities of supporters (with reference to explanation No.617, supplementary reasons document by grand justice Ziyi Lin).”
“The constitution preserves freedom of speech of not only the majorities, but also the minorities and the weak, whose rights to have voices should be protected more...even though the Administration was carrying out its duties according to law, it should also consider whether its restrictions, ban, adjudication, and punishments had interfered with the freedom of expression of the restricted. Except for preventing other people’s freedom from being obstructed, causing an emergency or danger, social order being affected or public interests harmed, people’s rights should not be restricted arbitrarily. Let alone the defendants Zhou Qingjun and Xiao Yizhen, male adults who had impaired the plaintiffs’ rights of expression with violence, under the name of city appearance maintenance.”
The plaintiffs commented favorably on the judgment, but insisted on taking the case further against the CPA
One of the plaintiffs said, “Every time a high ranking CCP official comes to Taiwan, they (people from the CPA) would appear—it is really strange. The duration of the time they would appear at the 101 scenic site has increased from 30 or 40 minutes to nearly 2 hours each time now. They use lies and rumors from the CCP to fool mainland Chinese tourists who are unaware of the truth. We feel sad for these tourists from mainland China, as they lost their chance to know about the true situation of the CCP and its persecution of Falun Gong because of sabotage from people like Qingjun Zhou. They not only cursed us but also assaulted us with violence, so we sued them for impairing our freedom. However, after the prosecutor charged them in February of this year, this group of people still continue with their depravity and attempted intimidation in a more aggressive manner. Now they have been sentenced to two months in prison; we think it is too light of a sentence, so we have appealed.”
Another practitioner said: “We are sincerely good to mainland Chinese people. As we are all office workers, we have sacrificed our holidays to clarify the truth continuously at the 101 scenic spot. But members of the CPA led by Qingjun Zhou have painstakingly fabricated rumors about Falun Gong and prevented mainland Chinese people from coming to Taiwan and learning the truth about the CCP. It is as if the government has been manipulated by the mafia, as they (the CPA) have been allowed to have their full swing in doing whatever they please. Even the police have been strongly adverse to their actions.”
The President of the Taiwan Falun Dafa Association said, “The CPA has been causing great interference to our truth clarification at scenic sites. They have assaulted Falun Gong practitioners not only verbally but also physically.” He stressed that there have been severe instances of such interference to Falun Gong truth clarification all over the world, such as in Flushing, New York, and various Hong Kong scenic sites, as well as in various other cities all over the world. They have common traits, in that their scoundrel tactics are basically the same as what the CCP uses in China—using violence and lies to impede people from learning the truth about Falun Gong and the persecution imposed on it by the CCP. A practitioner said that when high-ranking officials of the CCP came to Taiwan, the CPA would publicize their actions shamelessly. In fact it is an obvious sign that the CPA is colluding with the CCP to oversee its deviant activities in Taiwan. He stressed that it was the CPA who caused the conflicts, that their violent actions should be stopped, that they deserve a sharp warning, and that the sentence was too light.
Lawyer Wanqi Zhu stated that no matter what close ties Taiwan and China had established, it must not be allowed for peripheral organizations bribed by the CCP to export its lies, violence, and persecution of Falun Gong from mainland China to Taiwan. Taiwan is not a place of lawlessness and unruliness for the mafia thugs of the CCP to do whatever they please. When Taiwan’s freedom and rule of law is infringed upon by the dregs of society, there won’t be any sitting by and watching. Also, people from all walks of life and the judiciary system were encouraged to work together to guard and protect that which the people’s constitution has bestowed to everyone, including Falun Gong practitioners: the rights and freedom of expression, religious belief, assembly, and association.
Grass roots support and judiciary punishment for accomplices of the CCP
As for Qingjun Zhou’s sentence, the President of the Taiwan Friends of Tibet organization stated that the CPA has sabotaged the freedom and democracy of Taiwan on numerous occasions in the past time. She said that the CPA was so well informed that it really was inconceivable. It was really like the hand of the CCP in Taiwan for a small number of people to be able to cause such severe persecution in Taiwan. She hoped that the judiciary can process this impartially so as to make mouthpiece groups of the CCP wake up and put aside some of their doings.
Victims of Investment in China Association (VICA) President Weibang Gao said that the underworld originally was a group exploited by the CCP, and that the CPA had the CCP regime behind its back. A typical trait of the CCP is to exploit the underworld—gangs and such—however, the CCP sometimes went the other way, but then would exploit the gangs on other occasions. It was like in mainland China where Taiwanese businessmen were often threatened by underworld gangs to give everything to them when you leave.
Translated from: http://news.zhengjian.org/node/14741
