Ondrej Dostal, a member of the National Council of Slovakia, caused a stir at the anniversary celebration of the CCP’s founding of the People’s Republic of China at Hotel Borik in Bratislava, Slovakia, on Sept. 28. Dostal, who is also the vice president of the Human Rights Committee of the Slovak National Council, got thrown out by security after trying to hand the Chinese ambassador a book he didn’t want: “A China More Just,” by disappeared human rights attorney Gao Zhisheng. At the embassy function, Dostal walked up to Chinese Ambassador Gu Ziping during the reception and tried to hand him the book, along with a letter. In the letter, Dostal asks the ambassador to help work to free Gao Zhisheng. The prominent human rights attorney has been severely persecuted by the communist regime in China for his human rights work and criticism of the regime’s human right’s abuses, and his whereabouts is currently unknown. “I join my voice to the voices of world’s democratic public who requests the release of Gao Zhisheng to freedom,” the letter says. The ambassador did not take kindly to Dostal’s appeal, however. After realizing who the author of the book was, he refused to accept it. After Dostal had tried to give it to other embassy personnel, he was escorted off the premises by the diplomatic security police. The incident has drawn significant attention in Slovakia. Secretary of Interior Daniel Lipsic, later commented on the matter in a statement, saying that Slovakia has freedom of speech and that foreign diplomats should respect this. “If an invited guest, no matter if he is a member of parliament or not, is not guilty of any violations, there is no need for intervention,” he said, and added that the matter will be investigated. The Chinese Embassy, however, retorted in a statement that Dostal had come to the embassy function with “ulterior motives” and that he had “seriously damaged the friendship between the two countries and intervened in China’s internal affairs” by trying to hand the ambassador a book.
