DATE=12/26/1999
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=CHINA-FALUN GONG (L-UPDATE)
NUMBER=2-257516
BYLINE=STEPHANIE HO
DATELINE=BEIJING
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: A Chinese court has handed down severe jail
sentences to four leaders of the banned Falun Gong
spiritual movement. V-O-A's Stephanie Ho reports
Chinese police cordoned off the area around the
courthouse (Sunday) in Beijing, to prevent protests by
the group's members.
TEXT: State-run Chinese media say 59-year-old Li
Chang, a former deputy director of the Public Security
Ministry, was sentenced to 18-years in prison. He was
charged with illegally obtaining state secrets and
using a cult to undermine the law and cause human
deaths.
Chinese authorities outlawed Falun Gong five-months
ago, blaming it for the deaths of 14-hundred members
who have died after refusing medical help when ill.
Falun Gong is a mix of Buddhism, Taoism, meditation
and breathing exercises designed to help adherents
harness their inner energy.
Official reports say the court also handed down a 16-
year jail sentence to 50-year-old Wang Zhiwen, a
former Railways Ministry official, and a 12-year
prison term to 36-year-old Ji Liewu, a former manager
of a state-owned company.
The lightest sentence went to 40-year-old Yao Jie, who
worked at a real estate firm. She was sent to prison
for seven-years.
The four defendants were accused of masterminding a
protest in April - in which more than 10-thousand
Falun Gong members surrounded the Zhongnanhai central
leadership compound in Beijing to demand official
recognition.
The Hong Kong-based Information Center of Human Rights
and Democratic Movement in China says the four
defendants are all Communist-Party members.
The Information Center says the trial already had been
postponed twice, apparently due to international
pressure. It added that at least 20 Falun Gong
adherents who showed support for the defendants were
rounded up outside the court earlier this month.
Beijing says about 150 Falun Gong members have been
arrested or are being sought on criminal charges.
Last month, a court in the southern island province of
Hainan handed down the first anti-Falun Gong jail
sentences. Four of the group's leaders were sent away
to as much as 12-years in prison, for using a cult to
violate the law.
Rights groups say hundreds of Falun Gong followers
have been sent to labor camps -- an administrative
punishment that does not require a court hearing.
Meantime, these groups charge that at least six other
adherents have died in police custody.
Falun Gong claims 100-million members, but the Chinese
government says its membership is closer to two-
million. (SIGNED)
NEB/HO/RAE
26-Dec-1999 12:14 PM EDT (26-Dec-1999 1714 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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