misik.at, March 12, 2007 (Translation from the German Text)
http://www.misik.at/die-grossen-interviews/hoher-organisationsgrad.php
Manfred Nowak, Human Rights lawyer and UN Special Rapporteur, about his
inquiries against the Chinese Government. Profil, March 12,
2007.
Journalist: Based on the Canadian Report you
have decided to inquire into the accusations. How leakproof is the documented
material?
Nowak: The two Canadians are drawing clear
conclusions. The chain of evidence they are documenting shows a coherent picture
that causes concern.
Journalist: What evidence
exactly?
Nowak: It�s a fact that Falun Gong is being
suppressed since 1999. It is incontestable that since the beginning of the
repressions against Falun Gong the number of Organ transplantations has
increased massively. Even the official Chinese Organizations of Medics shows in
its Statistics that there have been 60.000 Organ transplantations between the
year 2000 and 2005.
Journalist: Couldn�t they have been
donated voluntarily?
Nowak: That at least is very much
worthy to be investigated, because in chinese society, out of religious-cultural
aspects, there is no big disposition to voluntarily donate organs, may this be
alive or after death.
Journalist: Then the matter
should be intrinsically clear?
Nowak: Well, the chinese
side insists, that the Organ donations have been voluntary. We don�t know how
many human beings have been persecuted, because the Chinese government is the
only one in the world not publishing any statistics in this respect. Relevant
data of NGOs like Amnesty International and others are between 1500 and 4000
executed persons per year. Speaking about the Canadian Report one can see that
there is a downright market and a big willingness, e.g. from hospitals, to
accommodate potential customers. They promise to fulfil the requirements in very
short time. Within a few weeks one receives an organ. That implies a high level
of organization
Journalist: That means that people are
being executed when a customer comes?
Nowak: The
accusations are in the direction that even people are being executed even if
they are not yet convicted, but who are just being killed for taking their
organs.
Journalist: In short: There are people being
executed who wouldn�t be executed if there were no demand?
Nowak: That�s the main point of the accusations.
Furthermore, Falun Gong-followers are ideal organ donators because of their
lifestyle and the sociological typology of the members are ideal organ donators.
They don�t smoke, they don�t drink, and most of them are aged between 25 and 35
years.
Journalist: The case seems to be
clear?
Nowak: I myself don�t yet want to make any
judgment, because my examinations are still going on and I am still expecting
important information by the Chinese government. The Canadian report does not
contain any true proof, but a lot of conclusive evidence. The accusations raised
by Falun Gong � eg. that in a hospital in Sujiatun (Shenyang province) alone
6000 of their followers have been killed for means of organ trade, seems in any
case to be overdone and is being disavowed categorically even by prominent
government critics like Harry Wu, with whom I had detailed talks in Washington
D.C. The accusations are so massive that I will only then speak out if there is
real proof. In any case now it�s the Chinese government�s turn to invalidate the
chain of evidence point by point with the according facts (e.g . the exact
number of executed persons, the exact origin of the transplanted organs). To
reject the massive accusations raised by various sides categorically is surely
not sufficient.