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 (about 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.