(Clearwisdom.net) At 12:30pm, April 3, 2002, about one hundred Falun Dafa practitioners from Chicago, New York, San Francisco and other areas held a press conference in front of the U.S. Federal Courthouse in Washington DC to announce a civil lawsuit against the Chinese Ministry of State Security, Ministry of Public Security and Chinese Central Television (CCTV).

Three representatives of the plaintiffs spoke at the press conference. Some had had their homes broken into; some had had their cars burned; and some had had their private conversations wiretapped. There was sufficient evidence indicating that all of these actions were part of a national criminal campaign directed by the Chinese Ministry of State Security and Ministry of Public Security through the Chinese Embassy and Consulates in the U.S. These criminal acts directly violated the rights and freedoms that Falun Gong practitioners have as US citizens and residents.

Reporters from Associated Press, Washington Post, Washington Times, CNN and three Chinese media attended and asked questions.

Dafa practitioner Gail Rachlin (plaintiff) speaks	Attorney Martin shows the picture of Dafa practitioners doing the practice	Dafa practitioners demonstrated the exercises before the press conference
Overall scene of the press conference, reporters doing interviews and asking questions	Dafa practitioners in front of the Federal Courthouse (the practitioners in the middle without banners are plaintiffs)	AP reporters interview Dafa practitioners after the press conference