|
Germany: Lawsuit Against Former Chinese Leader Jiang Zemin for Genocide, Torture and Crimes Against Humanity
November 19th, 2003
BERLIN (GFGIC) - On November 20th 2001, 36 western Falun Gong practitioners
demonstrated on China's famous Tiananmen Square, calling for justice for Falun
Gong in China. They were forcibly arrested and expelled from the country. Now,
two years later, some of the German participants are submitting charges to the
Federal Prosecutor in Karlsruhe, Germany, against the former leader Jiang Zemin
and other senior officials and persons responsible for the persecution of Falun
Gong practitioners in China. The complaint charges them with genocide, crimes
against humanity and torture, as well as dangerous bodily harm to Falun Gong
practitioners in China.
The lawsuit is filed by a total of 39 victims of this persecution, the German
Falun Dafa Association and dedicated citizens who support an end to the terror
campaign against Falun Gong in China by taking part in this lawsuit. The lawsuit
features the personal testimonies of 15 victims of torture, living outside of
China. The official documentation contains the cases of over 800 deaths in this
persecution, as well as other victims, providing an exposition of the
unimaginable extent of this terror campaign, torture methods and persecution of
people from all walks of life in China.
Lawyer Wolfgang Kaleck from Berlin, known as a representative for German
victims of the Argentine armed forces Junta, represents the prosecutors. In
terms of its consequences and significance, this lawsuit should be held in equal
regard to the prosecution of Milosevic and Pinochet. As Johannes Rau commented
in Nanjing: Human rights have a universal meaning. In September 2003, the German
Federal President went on to say in a statement about human rights given in
front of about one thousand students and professors in the University of Nanjing:
If it concerns a person's fundamental rights to life, freedom, and the
protection from torture, arbitrary imprisonment and discrimination the
prerequisites for being able to walk upright then there cannot be any
compromises in the basic attitude. The submission of the lawsuit prepared for
November 2003 in Germany stands on this background. This lawsuit focuses
entirely on the crimes of Jiang Zemin and his followers, who do not represent
the Chinese people or the Chinese state.
The persecution of Falun Gong is based on Jiang Zemin's order: "Discredit
Falun Gong. Cut off Falun Gongs financial resources. Physically destroy Falun
Gong practitioners." For the past four years, this order has interfered with the
lives of millions of Chinese people. Practitioners relatives, friends,
businesses, schools and other educational institutions are coerced into taking
part in the persecution against Falun Gong and incited to betray practitioners,
or they are made to pay fines to prevent Falun Gong practitioners being
illegally detained. Up to one hundred thousand Falun Gong practitioners in
prisons and forced labour camps have been abused, tortured, brainwashed and
forced to give up their moral principles. Families are torn apart, people are
forced to live on the streets, women are raped and forced to have abortions, and
the innocent are tortured to death. The Code of Crimes against International Law, introduced on June 26th 2002,
article 1, part 1, o 1, states: This Act shall apply to all criminal offences
against international law designated under this Act, to serious criminal
offences designated therein even when the offence was committed abroad and bears no relation to Germany.
The UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide
of 1948 states: Article 2: In the present Convention, genocide means any of the
following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a
national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such: (a) Killing members of the group; (b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; (c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring
about its physical destruction in whole or in part; (d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group; (e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.
This UN convention was prepared and signed by the contracting parties,
including Germany: in recognition of the fact that genocide of mankind has
caused great losses in history in all times, and in the conviction that for
mankind's liberation of one such despicable scourge international cooperation is
required.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------- Here is a timetable for events leading up to the lawsuit. There will be separate
invitations to the press conference in Berlin on November 24th at 11am.
Saturday November 22nd 8am-10am: Approximately 500 Falun Gong practitioners from Europe will meet in
Berlin. Meditation and exercise practice take place in front of Rotes Rathaus. 11am-1pm: March from the Rotes Rathaus to Lustgarten, across the street from
Unter den Linden, Brandenburger Tor, Ebertstrasse to Potsdamer Platz. Main messages: Bring Jiang Zemin to Justice! and Stop the Persecution of Falun
Gong in China!
Monday November 24th 9am-2pm: Approximately 300 Falun Gong practitioners appeal between the German
Reichstag and Brandenburger Tor. 1pm: Demonstration with guests - Bring Jiang Zemin to Justice!
Contacts in Berlin Mrs Zhihong Zheng: 0179 - 325 83 11; Renate Lilge-Stodieck: 0162 - 134 54 78
For further questions and interview wishes please contact: Mrs Waltraud Ng, Tel.: 06201-15672, mobile: 0173-3135532 Mrs Andrea Fischer, Tel.: 030-7523594, mobile: 0160-95012757 e-mail: info@falungong.de web page: www.faluninfo.de
Source:
http://www.clearharmony.net/articles/200311/16293.html |