Quebec Superior Court Issues Order to Stop Anti-Falun Gong Publication

MONTREAL, December 7, 2001 (Falun Dafa Information Center)—Quebec Superior Court has ordered the Montreal-based Chinese newspaper “Les Presses Chinoises” to stop anti- Falun Gong publications. The author was ordered not to circulate defamatory anti-Falun Gong materials under any circumstances. Details of this Court Order will be made public by Falun Gong practitioners and their legal counsel, civil rights lawyer, Mr. Michael Bergman at a press conference in Montreal on Wednesday December 12.

Last Thursday, Falun Gong practitioners in Canada started their first legal action to stop the circulation of hate literature on Canadian soil after slanderous articles appeared repeatedly in the Montreal Chinese newspaper “Les Presses Chinoises” beginning November 3, 2001. The newspapers defaming Falun Gong are circulated in Montreal and Ottawa, and through the Internet, across the country. While the legal procedure is still in progress, the Court’s Safeguard Order issued in the preliminary hearing will stop circulation of hate literature until the Court can reach a full decision.

The hate literature appearing in “Les Presses Chinoises” repeats the Chinese government’s unfounded defamations used to demonize Falun Gong and justify their two and a half year-long persecution of Falun Gong practitioners.

Background

The Chinese government has been running a smear campaign both in China and abroad to justify its crackdown. The Chinese Embassy and Consulates in Canada have been inciting hate toward Falun Gong on Canadian soil through the sending of defamatory materials to all levels of Canadian government officials who support Falun Gong, to the media and by influencing Canadian Chinese Newspapers through various means.

Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa is a practice of meditation and exercises with teachings of the universal principle of “Truthfulness-Compassion-Tolerance”. China supported and awarded Falun Gong for years until 1999 when the President of China, Jiang Zemin, banned the practice. To date, more than three hundred innocent Falun Gong practitioners have been confirmed tortured to death for refusing to give up the practice, while sources inside the Chinese government say the actual number exceeds sixteen hundred. More than a hundred thousand people have been incarcerated. Millions of practitioners in China have been deprived of jobs, education, pensions, etc.

Contact:

Mr. Michael Bergman    514-249-1177 (Cell)

Mr. Yumin Yang           514-487-9486, 514-941-2203 (Cell)

Ms. Grace Wollensak    613-762-2106 (Cell)