Falun Gong Members Convicted Over Protest
(April 30, 2005)April 29, 2005 11:34 PM,
Laksamana.Net - A Jakarta court has convicted 12 members of the Falun Gong spiritual movement for staging a protest outside the Chinese Embassy during a recent visit by Chinese President Hu Jintao.
Although Falun Gong is banned in China as an evil and subversive cult, the movement' s Indonesian association is legally registered with the Justice Ministry. (boxun.com)
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South Jakarta District Court on Thursday (28/4/05) handed the defendants a two-month suspended jail sentence with six months’ probation.
The Falun Gong members were arrested on Monday while Hu was holding talks with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. The two leaders signed a "strategic partnership" agreement and presided over the signing of eight agreements by ministers of the two countries. One of the agreements aims to increase the volume of annual trade between Indonesian and China to $20 billion.
Several Falun Gong protestors had also been detained last Saturday for demonstrating near the venue of the Asian-African Summit but were late released.
Presiding judge Herman Tandi said the 12 defendants were found guilty of violating City Bylaw No.11/1988, Article 8, which restricts demonstrations near specific sites, including median strips and " green areas" .
Most of the protesters had been sitting cross-legged while meditating on the sidewalk in front of the embassy in Kuningan district. They were carried away by police and detained for a day. They later refused to attend their trial.
The protesters denied any wrongdoing, saying they had followed the law by giving police written notice of the protest three days in advance.
"It's very strange because we were first told when we were arrested that we had violated laws on public order because we were there without permission," protester Hok Subagio was quoted as saying by German news agency dpa.
"I think we were arrested because there was an intervention by the government of China. On Monday, there was a visit by the president of China to the embassy, so I think they didn't want their president to see us over there," he added.
After the verdict was handed down, the Falun Gong followers went to the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) to file a complaint against their “unfair” treatment by the police and the court.
Their lawyer Gatot said he would appeal against the verdict. “The sentence handed down by the judge was not in accordance with the actions carried out by the defendants," he was quoted as saying by the Media Indonesia daily.
_(博讯自由发稿区发稿) (boxun.com)
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