The European Parliament addresses my father's persecution by the CCP
(Berlin/Germany) As of January 14th, 2024, my father, Mr. Ding Yuande, has been illegally detained for more than 8 months in the Rizhao City Detention Center in China’s Shandong Province. The European Parliament is addressing the fate and safety of my father by setting an urgent resolution titled “The Ongoing Persecution of Falun Gong in China – Notably the Case of Mr. Ding Yuande” on the agenda of the next plenary session in Strasbourg. After a planned debate on January 17th, the resolution will be proposed for a vote on January 18th, 2024.
As his son and a victim of the ongoing persecution of Falun Gong in China, I would very much appreciate if the members of the different political groups in the European Parliament would vote “Yes” to pass the EU Resolution. This will not only help free my father, but also contribute to ending the ongoing crimes of China’s communist regime against Falun Gong practitioners in China.
Due to the ongoing persecution of Falun Gong by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), our family of three has been separated: My father is in the Rizhao City Detention Center, Shandong Province; my mother is under surveillance in our village after her release due to the rescue campaigns abroad; and I, their only child, am in Berlin.
Despite being the only child in my family, I have not been able to see my parents in person for more than 11 years. I haven’t been able to celebrate the Chinese New Year with them. We haven’t even had an opportunity to share a single meal together, or to take a family photo.
However, the persecution of my family does not even reflect the tip of the iceberg of this ongoing crime against humanity in China.
My father is a good person, who is living his life according to the three principles of the Chinese spiritual practice Falun Gong – Truthfulness, Compassion and Tolerance. He has not done anything to violate Chinese law. On November 28th, 2023, however, he was subjected to a show trial at the Wulian County People´s Court in Rizhao City, Shandong Province. On December 15th, 2023, my father was sentenced to three years in prison and fined 5,000 RMB (approximately 2,000 Euro).
Protest in front of the Chinese Embassy in Germany (Credit: Alexander Gereg)
The former Municipal Party Secretary of Rizhao City, Ms. Zhang Hui, who is now the Deputy Municipal Party Secretary of Qingdao City in Shandong Province, was the Party Secretary of the First Party Committee of Rizhao Military District. Due to her military connections, and especially in the first twelve days after my parents had been abducted by the authorities, I was extremely worrying about their fate and their safety – not only because of the possibility of their being tortured, but also because of the forced organ harvesting performed at scale on prisoners of conscience by the CCP.
In the last 8 months, I have travelled to different European countries – such as the Czech Republic, Belgium, Austria, Slovakia, France, and Greece – in order to raise awareness of the ongoing persecution of Falun Gong in China by telling the story of my parents’ persecution again and again. Many kind-hearted European citizens, including courageous journalists and NGOs such as the Society for Threatened People (STP – in German: Gesellschaft für bedrohte Völker) with ECOSOC status, the International Society for Human Rights with ECOSOC status (in German: Internationale Gesellschaft für Menschenrechte), DAFOH (Doctors Against Forced Organ Harvesting), WOIPFG (World Organization to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong), the Falun Dafa Information Center, and Amnesty International in German, have taken great efforts in campaigning in different ways for my parents’ release.
Members of the European Parliament and the national parliaments of several European countries haven written protest letters to the Chinese Embassy in Germany and the local Chinese authorities in my home city of Rizhao.
On X (formerly Twitter), MEP Michael Gahler criticized the wave of show trials of another 22 Falun Gong practitioners in my hometown, who were brought before the same court as my father shortly before the EU-China Summit on December 7th, 2023 in Beijing: "Such current wave of show trials must not go unnoticed. The CCP structures should be aware that they are even according to Chinese law persecuting people without a legal base. We should sanction the perpetrators by denying visas and seizing their assets abroad."
MEP Michael Gahler with Lebin Ding at the European Parliament in Strasbourg (Credit: MEP Gahler)
The persecution of Falun Gong has severely infringed not only Chinese law, but also international human rights law, and there is no legal basis for the ongoing state crimes of the CCP.
Now the CCP is trying to strengthen its transnational repression against Chinese Falun Gong practitioners living abroad. On June 26th, 2023, on the occasion of the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture, as we were holding a peaceful protest in Brussels, a group of young Chinese people tried to interfere with us by waving a Chinese flag at the protest. On August 1st, 2023, the Chinese embassy in Germany tried to stop our peaceful protest, during which we sought to deliver protest letters to the Chinese Ambassador through the embassy’s mailbox. After calling the local police in Berlin, we were able to bring our protest to a successful conclusion.
This protest is not only about my parents, however. On May 12th, 2023, approximately 70 Falun Gong practitioners in my home city of Rizhao, including my parents, were illegally arrested. Shortly after the show trial against my father, a wave of show trials was conducted against a further 22 Falun Gong practitioners in my hometown.
In this regard, I hereby strongly urge the CCP to immediately end the persecution of my parents and, in particular, to immediately and unconditionally release my father from detention, and to grant my parents travel documents so that we can be reunited in Germany.
The persecution of Falun Gong practitioners is not only about their persecution in China: It is the persecution of all humanity, because the three principles of Falun Gong – Truthfulness, Compassion and Tolerance – are universal human values.
It is time for the EU to trigger the EU Global Human Rights Sanctions Regime in order to sanction the perpetrators of the persecution of Falun Gong. The sanctions should include, but not be limited to, visa refusal, the freezing of assets, expulsion from EU territories, criminal prosecution, and the initiation of international criminal charges.
Contact information for media requests:
Mr. Lebin Ding [email protected]
