Falun Gong practitioners used the occasion of the International Olympic Games in Athens, Greece to highlight the Chinese government’s suppression of the meditation practice. They also filed a lawsuit against former Chinese leader, Jiang Zemin, whom they hold responsible for banning the practice in China. The Epoch Times’ Suman Srinivasan recently interviewed Wenxin Wu, a Falun Gong practitioner from Germany, who was in Greece to help file the lawsuit:

Suman Srinivasan: Wenxin, you participated in rallies at the start of the Olympic Games, is your aim to spotlight the human rights record of the country that will hold the next Olympics?
Wenxin Wu: Certainly. The persecution of Falun Gong is one of the many human rights abuses in China. We explained to the Greek people that when they pass on the experiences of running the Olympics to the Chinese Olympic delegation, they should remind them that human rights is a cornerstone of the Olympic spirit. A game without the Olympic spirit is not an Olympic game.

Srinivasan: I understand the Chinese government tried to interfere with your activities.
Wu: Some people from the Chinese Embassy kept calling the Greek authorities and asked them to stop all Falun Gong activities. On the day we staged a fantastic parade showing the beauty of Falun Dafa and informing the people about the brutal persecution, we attracted tens of thousands of Greek people and around 20 media agencies.

Our first activity was a press conference on August 5th, a week prior to the opening ceremony of the Olympics. Three Chinese came to Hotel Athens Plaza where the conference was held. A European practitioner asked them if he could help and also enquired about which media they were from. One of them said that they were from a Japanese newspaper but they could not show any identity. They started talking to each other in Chinese without knowing that our European practitioner had learnt Chinese and was certain that they were just lying. They then tried to walk into the conference room by force without permission. Our practitioner called the security. The three Chinese ran away and rushed into a rented car waiting outside and drove away.

A friend of us working at a government authority told us that at a recent meeting with the Chinese embassy people, the Greek representative told the embassy people bluntly: “You keep telling us that Falun Gong people are trouble makers, but after a week of their presence in Athens, we have not been able to identify any trouble from them. But some of your journalists have been doing things which is really causing trouble to our country.”

Srinivasan: I understand you staged an exhibition showing various ways Falun Gong are tortured in China. How did people react to seeing that?
Wu: All Greek people showed sympathy when they learned about the persecution. Those who did not speak English smiled at us and showed a thumbs-up sign showing their support for us. It was a fantastic experience. We felt that many Greeks could easily understand the truth.

Srinivasan: Talk about the lawsuit that was filed against Jiang Zemin and what you hope to achieve.
Wu: First of all it is a lawsuit against criminal acts. The two attorneys are very famous attorneys in Greece. They did a very thorough investigation and analysis and found that there are enough facts to file a criminal case based on the Greek law against torture. What is interesting is that many Greek people understand the terror of a totalitarian regime as they had such a regime between 1966 and 1974. One of the attorneys, who is a human rights lawyer, was jailed as a dissident and tortured in 1974 during the totalitarian rule in Greece. He knows very well what the persecution is about.

Srinivasan: According to recent reports, the Chinese government has been using the Olympic Games as an excuse to commit even graver human rights abuses, especially against Falun Gong practitioners.
Wu: Ever since China won the chance to host the 2008 Olympics, Jiang and his followers have been utilizing the upbeat nationalistic sentiments of the Chinese people to escalate the persecution by lying to the Chinese people that Falun Gong is anti-Chinese. In reality, not only we are not anti-Chinese, we actually promote traditional Chinese culture. [The Falun Gong principles] Truthfulness, compassion and forbearance are all in line with traditional Chinese values.

Srinivasan: I heard that that you held a musical event in Athens to showcase classical and traditional Chinese culture. How did it go?
Wu: The Akropolis Association for Ecology and Culture invited artists from among the Falun Gong practitioners to come to Athens to hold a musical evening at a traditional Greek Amphitheatre. The audience found the performance to be very good. The closing words of the chairman of the Greek Cultural Association Mr. Michalis Ghiolman, who is also the vice president of the Greek Chapter of the International Diplomat Association, went like this: “Ladies and gentlemen, we thank the Falun Dafa artist practitioners, who have come from 13 countries, for their great performance tonight. One thing I would like to tell you is that they all are volunteers. They paid for their air tickets and hotels from their own pocket. They receive not one cent in payment. They do this just for the sake of human rights, for a better future in China and for Falun Dafa.”