Chicago Tribune: Falun Gong supporters appeal suit dismissal

January 21, 2004

Attorneys for Falun Gong practitioners Tuesday appealed a federal court's dismissal of a suit they filed charging former Chinese President Jiang Zemin with violating the rights of the movement's followers.

U.S. District Judge Matthew Kennelly dismissed the original case in September because foreign heads of state are protected from civil lawsuits in the United States. But because Jiang is no longer president, the case should be reconsidered by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit, said Falun Gong attorney, Terri Marsh.

"Once they leave office, they're fair game," she said. "The status of a head of state is very different from that of a former head of state. ... Immunity is not impunity."

She cited similarities in the Jiang case to a class-action lawsuit against Ferdinand Marcos, won by nearly 10,000 Filipinos in 1995. The plaintiffs won a $1.9 billion judgment against their former leader's estate in federal court in Hawaii and later reached a $160 million settlement.

The case against Jiang does not specify a dollar amount because it is not about money, said Marsh.

"I think it would change the situation in China," said Marsh, who has been practicing Falun Gong since 2000 and is handling the case pro bono. "If there is a favorable ruling, I think there's a good chance persecution will stop and it'll be saving thousands of lives."

Jiang has not responded to the lawsuit. Calls to the Chinese embassy in Washington were not returned.

Falun Gong is a spiritual movement encompassing exercise and meditation, its followers say. [...]

The original case was filed in the Northern District of Illinois in October 2002 when Jiang, then president of China, was touring the U.S. The suit was served on a Chicago police commander and several U.S. Secret Service agents guarding Jiang at the Ritz-Carlton Chicago, according to court documents.

The complaint alleged "horrific human rights abuses" suffered by six plaintiffs who were unidentified because of possible retribution to them or their families in China, Marsh said. It also named Illinois resident Wei Ye and Massachusetts resident Hao Wang, who were unable to travel from the U.S. to Iceland to protest a Jiang visit there because of an alleged blacklist.

The U.S. Department of Justice requested the case be dismissed in a friend of the court brief based on Jiang's former head-of-state status and because he was never personally served with the lawsuit. But 38 members of Congress requested that the suit move forward.

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