[ad_1]
Next week, the Polish Supreme Court will decide whether or not to extradite Li Zhihui to China. Lower courts have ruled that he should be extradited following promises from the Chinese embassy that his rights will not be violated.
Peter Dahlin of the human rights organization Safeguard Defenders doubts the promises are worth anything.
– There is a long list of cases in which China has made promises about how people should be treated. So those promises are ignored as soon as they return to China, he says.
Chancellery: Risk of death penalty
The Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs is involved in the case.
“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs can confirm that a Swede in his 50s has been detained since March 2019 in Poland. The Swedish Embassy in Warsaw is closely following the matter “, writes the press service of the Chancellery in an email to Expressen.
The Polish News newspaper has read a letter sent by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to its Polish counterpart.
“There is a great risk that our citizen, after being handed over to the Chinese side, will be sentenced to death”, writes the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the letter according to Polish News.
And so:
“The People’s Republic of China does not meet the criteria for legal certainty. The legal system is under the control of the Communist Party and therefore is not independent.”
Successful businessman
According to Safeguard Defenders and Polish News, Li Zhihui had a successful career as an entrepreneur in China. He is also said to have been a member of the Communist Party’s youth union and a member of parliament.
In 2012, he left China and came to Sweden, where he received citizenship in 2016. In Sweden, he is said to have actively participated in the Falun Gong movement, which is prohibited in China.
The following year, without his own knowledge, China sought him out internationally through Interpol. Formally, he is suspected of extortion.
Li Zhihui’s defense attorney, Krzysztof Kitajgrodzki, claims that the alleged illegal transaction took place while Li Zhihui was still living in China. The lawyer is skeptical of the Chinese criminal charges.
– The strangest thing is that the accusations appeared only after Mr. Li became active in issues related to the falungong, says Krzysztof Kitajgrodzki.
Falun Gong
Falungong is a form of exercise in which practitioners with the help of exercises and meditation must achieve harmony between man and the universe. “Truth, goodness, patience” is the motto. The method was published in China in 1992 and has since spread around the world.
Falungong was completely banned in 1999 in China. Chinese state propaganda classifies Falungong as an evil sect. During the 2000s, Falunong in its foreign propaganda has taken a more political direction.
Source: NE
Stopped on scale
However, Sweden did not respond to China’s call and Li Zhihui was able to continue operating in the country. He first lived in the Stockholm area, but in February 2019 he registered in Västerås, where he opened an Asian restaurant.
In March of the same year, when he stopped in Warsaw on his way between Sweden and Bulgaria, he was arrested at the airport. He has since been detained while the process related to China’s extradition request has continued in the Polish courts.
To clarify whether extradition was possible under the European Convention, the Court posed a series of questions to the Chinese Embassy in Warsaw.
China: “Spread rumors”
The embassy stated in its response to the Polish court that Falungong is an “illegal organization”:
“It is anti-human, anti-social and anti-scientific. It creates destructive rebel groups.”the embassy wrote according to Safeguard Defenders.
The embassy also claimed that Li Zhihui “spreads rumors” and that “the goal is to deceive and plead for sympathy and support.”
– It is obvious that Mr. Li, in addition to the alleged illegal business transaction, will also be prosecuted for his activities in Falungong if he is extradited, says lawyer Krzysztof Kitajgrodzki.
– It is also obvious that the trial will not be fair.
