| 15 Falun
Gong activists sentenced to jail & fine in Singapore(03/29/2001)
Singapore Magistrate Court Thursday imposed sentences to 15 Falun
Gong convicts under the charges of illegal assembly and obstruction
to police duty.
Judge Carol Ling sentenced each of the seven who were convicted
of obstructing policemen from carrying out their duties to an imprisonment
term of four weeks and each of the other eight convicted of participating
an assembly without a permit to a fine of 1000 Singapore dollars
(US$570).
In the court verdict, the judge outlined the facts of the offenses
of the accused persons and said that these "salient facts "
are "incontrovertible" and have been admitted to by each
of the accused persons.
The judge stressed that the public interest in this case lies in
the need to ensure that law and order is maintained.
After the court finished the proceedings, local and foreign reporters
asked for comments of Liu Yantao, First Secretary of the Chinese
Embassy in Singapore. Liu responded that the imposition of the sentences
on these Falun Gong activists is an normal law action carried out
by Singapore as a sovereign state for the purpose of maintaining
social stability and cracking down criminals and the law actions
undertaken in the case are totally Singapore's internal affairs.
He said he was sorry because some Chinese citizens took part in
Falun Gong activities, broke Singapore laws and finally had no choice
but to be punished by laws.
The Chinese diplomat also voiced his indignation that a few of
the convicted Falun Gong activists availed themselves the chance
of reading their guilt pleas before the court to slander and defame
the Chinese government and the Chinese Embassy in Singapore through
fabricating facts and inventing stories.
The 15 Falun Gong activists, nine males and six females and including
13 Chinese citizens, were charged for gathering near a carpark at
Singapore's MacRitchie Reservoir without a permit on December 31
last year and arrested after they had defied police orders to disperse
and blocked police officers from carrying their duties.
(Xinhua)
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