The Hindu : Falun Gong members sentenced

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Sep 21, 2002

International

International

Falun Gong members sentenced

By P. S. Suryanarayana

SINGAPORE Sept. 20. China's drive against the Falun Gong cult's suspected anti-state activities took another decisive turn today as 15 followers of that "spiritual movement'' were convicted and sentenced to varying prison terms.

The Chinese state news agency reported that the Intermediate People's Court at Changchun, capital of the Jilin province in the northeastern sector, sentenced the 15 convicted members of the cult to jail terms ranging from four years to 20.

Those convicted had been charged with conspiracy to undermine China's law enforcement mechanism.

The charges relate to the circumstances in which the accused had managed to disrupt regular cable-television programmes in two separate cities in the province on a day in March.

The intrusive disruption was made use of by them to beam a video footage about the banned cult.

The episode was treated as not only a technical sabotage of the authorised cable-television programmes but also as a serious act of ideological subversion of the state and its governing principles. The latest judicial action, which also covered the offence of damaging radio and television property, is yet another endorsement of China's view of the cult as an enemy of the state.

While this development should therefore be seen in a larger perspective, regional political observers tend to find in the judgment some signs of a stiffening stance by the authorities towards the Falun Gong adherents ahead of the 16th National Congress of the Communist Party of China in Beijing in early November.

The upcoming congress is considered to be critically important for China's political direction. However, Falun Gong, which Beijing tends to see as the cat's paw of the West in view of the group's promotional network outside China, has not certainly caused the kind of challenge which alone might induce the country's political leaders to `time' their action against the outfit ahead of the congress.

The party's agenda consists of issues such as the organisation's `representational' credentials among the people as also the leadership stakes.

To this extent, there has so far been no sign of a possible Falun Gong shadow over the congress.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

International

Stories in this Section

Canada denies shifting stance on Iraq

U.S. Congress set to pass Iraq resolution

Falun Gong members sentenced

`Warmth returning to Indo-Canadian ties'

Pak. denies plot to kill Musharraf

Pak. urges world to pressure India for talks