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Details of German Lawsuit Filed Against Perpetrators of the Persecution Against Falun Gong
(Clearwisdom.net) On November 21, 2003, a lawsuit was filed with the German
Federal Supreme Court charging former Chinese head-of state Jiang Zemin and 16
other high-ranking Chinese leaders with Genocide, Crimes Against Humanity,
Torture, Murder and the Severe Bodily Harm of Falun Gong practitioners. The
German Falun Dafa Association, together with forty Falun Gong practitioners from
Germany, China, America, Canada, Australia and Ireland, filed the lawsuit. The
plaintiffs' legal representative is Mr. Wolfgang Kaleck, a lawyer from Berlin
well known for representing German victims of military dictator Augusto
Pinochet.
Forty Plaintiffs
Among the forty plaintiffs are 14 Falun Gong practitioners who are German
nationals. They were arrested and beaten because they made an appeal for Falun
Gong on Tiananmen Square, Beijing. The others are 15 practitioners from
different countries, including Zhao Ming from Ireland, Zhang Cuiying and Dai
Zhizhen from Australia, and Canadian Professor Zhang Kunlun. They or their
families have been tortured or persecuted to death in the persecution of Falun
Gong. There are another 11 plaintiffs: 9 German nationals and two Chinese
nationals, who are all Falun Gong practitioners living in Germany
Sixteen Named Defendants
The accused include:
Jiang Wanlai, Section Chief of the General Administration Department in
Beijing Tuanhe Forced Labor Camp
Criminal Offences Judged by the Rule of Law
In the 86-page indictment, Mr. Kaleck detailed the comprehensive and
systematic torture, murder and mental persecution that Falun Gong practitioners
have been subjected to since 1999. The suit is based on testimonies from such
well-respected human rights organizations as Amnesty International and Human
Rights Watch, documentation and reports of the persecution against Falun Gong
from the UN Refugee Agency and international media, the testimony of the 15
Falun Gong practitioners who had personally experienced persecution, together
with the documentation of the deaths of 818 Falun Gong practitioners published
on Clearwisdom.net. Combined with analysis of the great numbers of persecution
cases, and China's official papers and media reports, it is apparent that the
defendants in the lawsuit have committed the crimes of Genocide and Crimes
Against Humanity as stated by International Criminal Law.
(1) Genocide
German Criminal Law (220a) (before its amendment the article could be applied
to all cases happening prior to June 30 2002) and Article 6 of the German
International Criminal Codes regulate Genocide on the basis of Article 2 of
Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, Article 4
of Special International Criminal Tribunals in Yugoslavia and Rwanda, Article 6
of the Rome Statute of International Criminal Court as well as international
judicial cases. Generally speaking, genocide is defined as: any state or any
agent similar to a state, any government or any agent similar to a government
which undertakes large-scale, systematic action with the intent to destroy a
racial or religious group with their own distinct characteristics.
China's official papers prove that the persecution against Falun Gong
practitioners in China was instigated by Jiang Zemin. Manipulating his power,
Jiang gave a political directive to comprehensively destroy Falun Gong. The "610
Office" was specifically set up to persecute Falun Gong, demanding all
governmental and judicial levels, prisons, detention centers, forced labor
camps, brain-washing classes and mental hospitals to carry out its directives.
In forced-labor camps or prisons Falun Gong practitioners have been tortured,
murdered and persecuted in accordance with the directive.
The purpose and intention of destroying the spiritual practice of Falun Gong
is illustrated by the torture and murder of Falun Gong practitioners in over 30
provinces in China and also by the imprisonment, forced labor education,
torture, and mental persecution that over one million Falun Gong practitioners
have suffered from. From the great number of cases, we can see that they are
consciously and systematically torturing and murdering Falun Gong practitioners.
It is because they are Falun Gong practitioners that they are inflicted and
murdered.
The intent to destroy Falun Gong as a group with a specific belief is also
demonstrated by the use of various extreme methods to "convert Falun Gong
practitioners. From the great number of testimonies and numerous deaths of
practitioners a pattern of persecution can be detected: First, the police arrest
those who are thought to be Falun Gong practitioners and then imprison them in
the detention centre or the police station where they are forced to watch and
listen to lots of anti-Falun Gong materials and to asked to renounce their
belief in Falun Gong and stop all Falun Gong activities. If the practitioners
refuse to give up their belief, they will be put under more serious monitoring
after their release. Then the police will take another chance to arrest the
practitioners and torture them physically and spiritually so as to make them
renounce their belief. Usually Falun Gong practitioners are sent to the labor
camps without any legal trial and the term of imprisonment can be prolonged
arbitrarily. During the imprisonment in the labor camps or prisons, the prison
guards forcefully brainwash the practitioners by demanding they read anti-Falun
Gong materials, while brutally torturing them in an attempt to make them
renounce their belief. If practitioners do not give up their belief, the
physical and spiritual torture inflicted on them will be escalated and
prolonged. If practitioners determinedly refused to give up their belief, they
might even be tortured to death.
In addition, slanderous propaganda against Falun Gong is used to turn public
opinion against the practice. Furthermore, the vicious torture, murder and
persecution of Falun Gong practitioners arouses fear among the public and thus
keeps them away from Falun Gong. As a result, Falun Gong is unlikely to attract
more practitioners. Even though in the short-term, Falun Gong practitioners
cannot be all be "converted" or murdered, the intention is to spread
state-terrorism throughout the whole society to destroy Falun Gong in the long
term.
Abundant evidence indicates that the persecution against Falun Gong happening
in China has the purposeful and systematic intent to destroy the spiritual
practice of Falun Gong. Therefore, the persecution can be defined as Genocide. (2) Crimes Against Humanity.
Article 7 of the German International Criminal Codes defines Crimes Against
Humanity as such criminal offences as murder, torture and sexual violence
committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against any
civilian population. Documentation from human rights organizations, UN and media
illustrates that the 4-year persecution against Falun Gong is a comprehensive
and systematic violation of human rights. Numerous cases prove the widespread
incidence of torture, murder and sexual violence.
Criminal Responsibility of the Accused.
Former Chinese head-of-state Jiang Zemin personally launched and ordered the
persecution against Falun Gong. Many of his official papers and statements prove
his leading role in the persecution. He personally set up a nationwide
organization to persecute Falun Gong, the "610 Office," and through this
organization gave all kinds of secrets directives and orders to persecute Falun
Gong. The other two defendants, former vice premier Li Lanqing and Standing Member of
the Politburo of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party Luo Gan,
were appointed as Director and Deputy Director of the "610 Office" by Jiang
Zemin. As Director and Deputy Director of "610 Office," they are endowed with
the power to command all government agencies and judicial departments. They are
responsible for drafting, negotiating and putting into practice the policies and
methods used to systematically persecute Falun Gong. They not only consciously
tolerate this systematic persecution but also directly participate in it. They
slander Falun Gong on all kinds of public occasions, turning public opinion
against Falun Gong and increasing support for the persecution. Luo Gan even went
to all labor camps or prisons to oversee and participate in the persecution.
During the Chinese New Year of 2000, he personally interrogated the plaintiff,
an Australian national, Zhang Cuiying, arranging and ordering the police and
inmates to torture her.
The deputy governor of Liaoning Province, Xia Deren, has been in charge of
putting into practice the policies to persecute Falun Gong in Liaoning Province.
Xia is also responsible for setting up the concrete polices in Liaoning Province
used to persecute Falun Gong. Falun Gong practitioners in Liaoning Province have
been subject to severe persecution, at least 90 of whom had been persecuted to
death since 1999.
Former Beijing Mayor, Beijing party Secretary Liu Qi, is in charge of putting
into practice the policies to persecute Falun Gong in Beijing and directing the
police and security guards to deal with Falun Gong practitioners. With numerous
media reports of the arbitrary arrests and torture of Falun Gong practitioners
in Beijing, he was acutely aware of the existence of criminal acts, but did
nothing to stop them.
Deputy Head of Hubei Province's Department of Public Security, Zhao Zhifei,
is endowed with the power to directly control the police and security guards in
Hubei Province. He has the responsibility to stop and punish the human rights
violations in Hubei Province, but he never fulfils his administrative
responsibility and even personally directs and arranges the persecution against
Falun Gong.
The 7th to 16th defendants directly participate in the persecution of Falun
Gong practitioners in Tuanhe Forced Labor Camp, the Dispatching Office in
Beijing and Xinan Forced Labor Camp. For instance, in March, 2002, Jiang Wanglai,
Yang Fenghua and Jiang Haiquan, inflicted electric shocks on the plaintiff Zhao
Ming for over one hour, using an electric current stronger than 60,000 volts.
The Jurisdiction of German Courts
Article One of German International Criminal Codes 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 German Federal Supreme
Court will face two questions after receiving the lawsuit. The first question is
if German Criminal Law can be applied to the lawsuit. The apparent answer to the
question is yes. The second question is whether the German Federal Supreme Court
needs to make enquiries into the accusations. Mr. Kaleck thinks that the answer
is also very definite for the following reasons. Firstly, quite a few of the
criminal offences mentioned in the suit are related to Germany. Second, the
Chinese high-ranking officials may visit Germany in the near future. Besides,
the lawsuit is related to Germans and people living in Germany. Therefore, the
German Federal Supreme Court has an obligation to commence comprehensive
enquiries into the accusations.
In the past few years, China has remained far from being able to implement
its own rule of law, particularly in the aspect of its Criminal Law and how to
regulate its own government. The victims are unable to file a lawsuit in China.
On the contrary, those tortured victims who try to file a lawsuit or who try to
expose the torture cases to the public will be further persecuted. As a result,
judicial processes for those criminal acts in China are not possible. Thus it is
very important to file a lawsuit in another country.
If the international concerns over human rights problems are serious, and if
all nations are serious about bringing human rights abusers to justice,
something should be done from one point, from one place. Mr. Kaleck hopes that
Germany can play the leading role and that the German Federal Supreme Court, the
highest judicial agency in Germany, can make enquiries after receiving the
lawsuit. The investigations may be more complex and take a long time, because
the investigations may involve difficulties, the suit is associated with the
4-year political history, and the persecution is still being carried out.
Because Germany plays an important role in the International Criminal Court
in The Hague, the German criminal justice system has an obligation to clear up
these accusations before the court as soon as possible. The accused that have
been named in the lawsuit against which reasonable assumption of guilt exists,
must as soon as possible be served with an international arrest warrant. This
has already happened in the instance of the criminal actions of an Argentine
military dictator, a suit that had been filed with the Federal Criminal
prosecutor in Nuernberg-Fuerth. That makes the accused acutely aware of where
they will travel in future for fear of legal action against them. German
enquiries into these accusations will encourage judicial enquiries in other
nations to conducting their own investigations, to collect these findings and
perhaps, at some future time, to locally begin criminal proceedings in China
against those guilty of human rights crimes.
The Issue of the Privilege of "Head of State Immunity"
Last April during Jiang's visit to Germany, the German human rights
organization Association for Threatened Peoples filed a lawsuit against Jiang.
But at that time, the case did not get very far because Jiang, as China's
leader, was privileged with "Head of State Immunity." But Jiang is no longer
Chinese head-of-state. If he travels to Germany now, he is not under the
protection of the privilege of "Head of State Immunity." |