(Clearwisdom.net)

Former Communist Party Secretary of Hebei Province Wang Xudong was served with legal papers on June 25 charging him with torture and other cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment of Falun Gong practitioners in Hebei Province. The plaintiff in this lawsuit is a Falun Gong practitioner whose name remains anonymous in the court.

According to the complaint, "Defendant Wang Xudong did not follow international laws and Chinese laws to take action to stop the human rights abuses of Falun Gong practitioners. Instead, he authorized and supported a harsh persecution of Falun Gong."

Wang, China's current Minister of Information, was in Chicago attending the third Annual China-U.S. Telecommunications Summit, an event sponsored by the U.S. Department of Commerce and the Telecommunications Industry Association, a U.S. trade organization. The attendees were very surprised to learn about the role Wang has played in the persecution of Falun Gong. Wang is accused of supporting the persecution while serving as Party Secretary of Hebei Province from June 2000 through November 2002.

Hebei, which surrounds Beijing, is one of five Chinese provinces in which Falun Gong practitioners have been persecuted most aggressively. Of China's 30 provinces, these five have accounted for over half of the deaths of practitioners from abuse in custody.