When a government official from Central China's Hubei Province visited the United States in mid-July, he unexpectedly received a summons from an American court.

The official was said to be sued by Peng Liang, a Chinese citizen and Falun Gong practitioner, on the charge of "human rights" violations that caused the death of Peng's brother, Peng Min, and mother, Li Yinxiu, earlier this year.

A report, co-written by Xinhua and People's Daily reporters, published Thursday told how the Falun Gong cult plotted the indictment.

It stated that Peng's family lives in Wuhan, the provincial capital of Hubei, and all five family members are Falun Gong followers.

On February 28, 2000, Peng Min, 27, was detained by local police on suspicion of organizing others and using the cult to break the law, and he was later arrested.

Nearly a year later on January 8 the man hurt himself by striking an iron gate with his head in an apparent suicide attempt and was paralyzed following a fracture.

Local government and hospitals tried everything to save his life, but the man died on April 5.

When he was in hospital, his family members -- including the parents and Peng Liang -- refused to let him receive proper medical treatment.

Instead they insisted on broadcasting tapes on Falun Gong and reading the "sutra" of the cult for him, in front of his hospital bed.

Upon learning that her son had died, the mother put her palms together and said: "You have reached perfection at last." His father said: "We, the whole family, are proud of you."

Since Peng's family is too poor to afford the medical charges, the government exempted them from paying fees worth more than 30,000 yuan (US$3,614).

On April 29, the 56-year old mother died of a cerebral haemorrhage in a local hospital.

When Li Hongzhi, the Falun Gong leader, and the headquarters of the cult in the United States, learnt of their deaths, they used the Internet to direct their followers in China to plot for the indictment.

A number of followers were involved in the conspiracy -- including Mo Chou, Li Fengyou, Zhang Jing, Yan Zhigang and Liu Xunchun.

They found Peng Liang and persuaded him to sign a power of attorney that was fabricated to tell a false story on the case. Peng wrote what he saw on the spot, but did not know that the power of attorney would later be replaced by a fabricated copy with his signature on.

When the cult group received the indictment, they sued the Chinese official when he was in the United States, which was widely covered by news media in some foreign countries and Taiwan Province.

Afterwards, the cult members also planned to smuggle Peng out of the country, but the police stopped them.

In a commentary accompanying the report Friday, the People's Daily says that lies will never help save the Falun Gong cult from doom. It describes the plot by the Falun Gong headquarters in New York to sue the Chinese official as a "farce," which ended in vain.

(China Daily 10/12/2001)