Last autumn Society Matters carried a poston the predicament of George Karimi, an Armenian living in Sweden, who had the misfortune to be arrested in China on charges he has always denied, and who was subsequently transferred to Storboda, a Swedish jail.
In the post Armenian scholar, Professor Hovhanness Pilikian, urged the Swedish Government to consider releasing George (pictured), who is suffering from ill health caused by his Chinese imprisonment, on humanitarian grounds.թԹ Letters were also sent to every Swedish MP, and to the current Swedish Prime Minister, Mr Fredrik Reinfeldt.թԹ
In the letter to the Prime Minister, Professor Pilikian quoted the Society Matters post, and the response, at last, has been the switch to improved conditions for George. Society Matters can reveal that George has been transferred to an open prison where he is now receiving the appropriate medical treatment. George is now in Asptuna Anstalten facility near Stockholm, a far more liberal regime than Storboda.
Garo Hakopian, the distinguished Armenian Poet, Swedish Armenian Community Leader, Founder and Chairman of the Assembly of Armenians in Europe,թԹ wrote to the editor of Society Matters:
“In the name of the Assembly of the European Armenians, I wish to thank the Society Matters Blog, albeit belatedly, for the enormous positive effect the publication of Professor Pilikian’s article produced in the official government circles of Sweden.թԹ It directly caused the amelioration of the prison conditions of our political prisoner, Mr George Karimi, who was unjustly incarcerated by the Chinese authorities in Beijing, entirely on trumped up charges, and is now serving as a Swedish citizen, the rest of his prison sentence in Sweden.
“Alas our battle must continue until the totally innocent Mr Karimi is released to his young wife and two children.
“Mr. Karimi has been an exemplary prisoner — he is entitled to his reward for good, nay, excellent and impeccable behaviour.թԹ He has still much to contribute to a peaceful humanitarian society, the kind that exists in Sweden.”
Dick SkellingtonթԹ 23 April 2012
The views expressed in this post, as all posts on the Society blog, are the views of the author, not the Open University.
How an Armenian in China ended up a political prisoner in a Swedish prison
Armenian scholar Professor Hovhanness Pilikian on how the Chinese Government’s treatment of one innocent Armenian reveals much about their poor record on human rights.
George Karimi(an) is a child of the nation that had the misfortune of being an inconvenient obstacle in historical Anatolian Armenia (in todayթ§Չ-Չ§s Turkey) to the imperialist plans of the German Kaiser who plagued the globe with the First World War, and the genocide of 1.5 million Armenians, with the help of the Ottoman Young Turks.
թԹ
George (pictured)թԹ went to Beijing in 2003 with rosy-pink glasses on, excited by the Chinese Communist Party’s noble plans to improve the life of the ordinary Chinese citizens, following the great leader Deng Xiaoping’s dictum that ‘Wealth creation is good’.թԹ թԹ George believed in decent capitalism, the type the Chinese Government is pursuing today.թԹ Little could George guess that he was to become the victim of the totally corrupted faction of the government which the Chinese Communist Party itself is trying to eliminate.
թԹ
George K was suddenly and inexplicably arrested, precisely asթԹ Mr. KթԹ was in Kafka’s novel The Trial; but in George’s case,թԹ on trumped-up chargesթԹ of financial mismanagement, by now a stereotype used by corrupt factions in the Chinese government to cover up the bigger rotten capitalist fish and sharks of the Communist Party.
թԹ
George was put on aթԹ showթԹ trial withթԹ his accuser, an Indian friend called Milap, already safely packaged out of the country back to India, from where he laterթԹ withdrewթԹ his charges completely, confirming that he hadթԹ incriminated himself and George under torture.թԹ Incredibly, George K was stillթԹ rubber-stamped automaticallyթԹ as “Guilty” and condemned to life imprisonment.
թԹ
The father of ancient Armenian history, Movsess Khorenatsi (5thթԹ century AD) wrote of a Chinese nobleman who escaped the horrendous civil wars in China to find safe haven in ancient Armenia and became the progenitor of the Mamikonian aristocratic family dedicated to the military protection of the Armenian Kingdom.թԹ թԹ Fifteen centuries later, George went toթԹ ChinaթԹ in the 21stթԹ century, to find imprisonment.
թԹ
As a Swedish citizen, George sought the protection of his own civil state, which, because of its long socialist tradition of defending human rights, stepped in and negotiated a secret settlement with the Chinese Government to transfer George into the more humane conditions of a jail inթԹ Sweden,թԹ to complete his unjust and unfair trumped-up sentence.
թԹ
Unfortunately recent Swedish governments seem keen on pleasing official America by denying the country’s best humanist socialist traditions,թԹ the envy of the whole world. Now trying to modernize and globalize within the US free market paradigm, and in terror of the future power of Chinese capitalism, Sweden is victimizing its own citizen George Karimi merely to indulge the corrupt faction of the Chinese Government.
թԹ
The Swedish Government must not betray the humanitarian tradition of its good men, likeթԹ Edvard Vilhelm Siթ
Չblom, a Swedish missionary who was brave enough to lead an international protest movement in 1897 against one of the most powerful and murderous monarchs of Europe, King Leopold II of Belgium,թԹ who had killed over 10 millionթԹ (some put the figure at 30 million) Africans.
թԹ
The Swedish Government, instead of shaming itself byթԹ keeping a political prisoner, could encourage the good among the factions of the Chinese government by reminding them that their great modernizer and wealth-creator,թԹ Deng Xiaoping, was himself purged twice during the Cultural Revolution, andթԹ his totally innocent son Deng PufangթԹ wasթԹ torturedթԹ by the mad Red Guards andթԹ forced out of a window in a 4-storey building, escaping miraculously from certain death, thoughթԹ a paraplegic today.The good Communists of China must refrain from such murderous acts.թԹ թԹ թԹ թԹ թԹ
թԹ
The Swedish GovernmentթԹ must immediately free George, innocent like Deng Pufang, as George’s health is neglected and deteriorating.He simply cannot survive another five years of unfair, unjust and inhumanթԹ թԹ incarceration.թԹ
Faithful to its own humanitarian socialist principles, the Swedish Government must encourage the good Communists of the Chinese Government to see justice done and not side with rampantly evil market forces destroying human decencies.
Hovhanness Pilikian 20 September 2011
A longer version of this article can be seen here.
Be the first to comment