Falun Gong Father, Mother and Daughter from France Kidnapped in China

A family of Falun Gong practitioners, residents of France, have been missing in China since they were seized by public security agents on August 7th.

Chi Jian, a doctoral student in economics from Grenoble, France, his wife, Sun Fenglong, and their daughter, Chi Yifan, a middle school student, were visiting Inner Mongolia to spend time with relatives. Sources say agents from the Chinese National Security Bureau stormed their house and kidnapped the family. No one has seen or heard from them since. All three were Falun Gong practitioners.

Faculty and students at the Second University of the City of Grenoble, where Mr. Chi is pursuing a PhD in Economics, have launched a campaign to lobby for Chi’s release, and it is reported that the French government has begun an investigation into the matter.

“This isn’t the first time we’ve heard of the Chinese government preying on overseas nationals who are home visiting their families,” said Adam Montanaro, spokesman for the Falun Dafa Information Center. “The fact that they are targeting children and families clearly demonstrates how desperate the supporters of Jiang Zemin’s brutal policies have become.”

“This family must be released immediately, and Chi Jian allowed to return to France to complete his studies,” added Montanaro.

China has shown little hesitancy in persecuting Chinese-born Falun Gong practitioners living overseas. Zhao Ming, a postgraduate student at Trinity College in Dublin, was similarly abducted in January, 2000, while visiting relatives over the Christmas holidays. Sources say that Zhao has been brutally tortured in the Tuan He Farm labor camp in Beijing, where he is being held. Dr. Teng Chunyan, a resident of New York and an American green card holder, has been in a Chinese prison for over a year for attempting to reveal to foreign reporters the illegal use of mental facilities to detain and torture Falun Gong practitioners. She is now serving a three-year sentence, despite repeated calls by the US State Department for her release.