Sweden: Lawsuit Filed against Former Chinese Head of State Jiang Zemin for Wide-Scale Human Rights Crimes Against Falun Gong Practitioners (Photo)
(Clearwisdom.net) STOCKHOLM - Human rights lawyer Peter Bergquist,
representing the Swedish Falun Dafa Association, filed a lawsuit on Monday June
13 against the former Chinese head of state Jiang Zemin and leaders of the
610 Office, Li Lanqing, Luo Gan, Liu Jing, Ding Guangen and others,
charging them with participation in crimes of murder and kidnapping of Falun
Gong practitioners. The lawsuit was filed at Kungsholmsgatan police station in
Stockholm. Mr. Bergquist, known for his role as legal counsel in the Swedish Dagmar
Hagelin case against the Argentine marine lieutenant Alfredo Aztiz, stated in
the lawsuit that Jiang Zemin personally ordered the persecution of Falun Gong
practitioners, as well as creating the 610 Office to centralize and co-ordinate
the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners all over China. The UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion confirmed the extensive
human rights violations in a report dated 15 March 2005. More than 2,500 Falun
Gong practitioners have died in imprisonment, several hundred were sentenced to
jails terms of over 20 years, a high number of practitioners have been sent to
labor camps without trial and others have been falsely interned in mental
hospitals. Mr. Bergquist said these acts of persecutions are actually acts of murder and
kidnapping according to Swedish Law and the Penalty Code, which entitles the
Swedish courts to punish the offenders under the doctrines of universal
jurisdiction. A major portion of the crimes described in the lawsuit violated the articles
of the UN Convention against Torture, which both Sweden and China have ratified.
In addition, these crimes are in violation of the Chinese Penalty Code, which
means that Chinese authorities are required to co-operate in the event of a
Swedish criminal investigation and extradition request. Similar lawsuits against Jiang Zemin and other Chinese officials have been
initiated in Germany, France, Finland, Belgium, Holland, Australian, Spain,
England, Island, Cyprus, USA, Canada, South Africa, Taiwan, South Korea and
other countries. Mr. Bergquist said that attempts to punish high officials can be gathered
from the case of the Spanish Prosecutor Baltazar Carcon's attempt to summon
Pinochet. Experience from that case show that legal actions in other countries
can stimulate the judicial process in the homeland. The lawsuits all over the
world can hopefully in a longer perspective enhance human rights developments in
China. Source http://clearharmony.net/articles/200506/27129.html

Human
rights lawyer Peter Bergquist and Swedish Dafa practitioners file the
lawsuit at Kungsholmsgatan police station in Stockholm.
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