Fearing
the genocide lawsuit, Jiang Zemin has sent diplomats to the United States, ordered
a “Special Felony Investigation Network” and imprisoned probable plaintiffs
in Chinese jails
Chinese police seized Zhao Meiyu at her home, confiscated her letter to the
US Court filing a lawsuit against Jiang Zemin, and imprisoned her in a labor
camp
In response to the lawsuit against Jiang Zemin, the former head of China,
on charges of genocide against Falun Gong practitioners, the Chinese Security
Bureau established a nationwide “Special Felony Investigation Network” to investigate
and eliminate all activities involving the development of the lawsuit against
Jiang Zemin. Throughout China, the “Special Felony Investigation Network” treats
all probable plaintiffs and those who seek justice in the lawsuit as felons.
It spies, monitors, controls, and arrests all probable Chinese plaintiffs involved
in the lawsuit against Jiang. In fact, recently the organization allegedly already
arrested people suspected of being plaintiffs or assisting in the collection
of evidence of persecution against Falun Gong practitioners. In mid-May, an
American resident’s younger sister Zhao Meiyu was suddenly taken from home,
as she is a plaintiff in the lawsuit.
Ms. Zhao Langxiang is a Chinese American resident in Maryland. This year she
called her younger sister Zhao Meiyu in China and told her that the US District
Court is now processing the lawsuit against Jiang Zemin. Being a torture victim,
who survived being detained in a forced labor camp run by the “610 Office”*
for one and half years, Ms. Zhao Meiyu decided to become a plaintiff in the
lawsuit against Jiang. One day in mid-May, the police of Zhao Meiyu’s hometown
Huizhou, Guangdong Province traveled over 100 miles to the city of Shenzhen
to ransack her home. They confiscated her draft of charges against Jiang and
took her away to the Huizhou police station. While ransacking the home, the
local policemen from Huizhou, a mid-size town near Shenzhen, showed a search
warrant issued by the Chinese Customs Headquarters. At first, Ms. Zhao Langxiang
could not understand why a high-level jurisdiction unit such as the Chinese
Customs Headquarter would go through the trouble of issuing the police station
in a city like Huizhou a search warrant, until she recalled her recent conversations
with her sister on the sensitive topic of the lawsuit against Jiang. That must
have triggered the alarm and alerted top-level management of the Chinese Security
Bureau.
Ms. Zhao Langxiang said, “Zhao Meiyu is my youngest sister. She has been practicing
Falun Gong since 1998. She is now 25 years old. She lived with one of my brothers
in Shenzhen before the police took her away. One day in mid-May…I don't
know which day because my family is afraid to talk about her case over the phone…a
group of Chinese policemen broke into my brother’s home, took all the valuables
and a draft of charges against Jiang, and then kidnapped her. She has not come
back since.”
According to Ms. Zhao Langxiang, her sister Zhao Meiyu visited the National
Appeals Bureau in Beijing to explain the facts about Falun Gong in December
1999 and January of 2000, but on both occasions the National Appeal Bureau called
the police in Huizhou to take her immediately to jail. In 1999 Meiyu was locked
up for 15 days before her family paid 10,000 Yuan for her release. In 2000 Meiyu
was sentenced to one and a half years of forced labor at the Sanshui Women’s
Forced Labor Camp in Guangdong Province. Ms. Zhao Langxiang added, “My sister
was made to perform forced labor in jail for long hours until May 2002, simply
because she chooses to practice Falun Gong. She has lost her job and her home.”
Ms. Zhao Langxiang recalled her sister’s days at the forced labor camp:
“When Meiyu was at Sanshui, she experienced all kinds of torture. To make her
renounce Falun Gong, the '610 Office' would hold her in a narrow solitary
confinement with no light, like the one shown in the movie Green Mile
except in horrific sanitary condition. When she was not confined in solitary
confinement, my sister was forced to perform hard labor for 12 hours a day.”
Therefore, Ms. Zhao Langxiang felt very encouraged when she heard that American
Falun Gong practitioners had filed a lawsuit in Chicago against Jiang. Langxiang
telephoned her newly released sister immediately to share the good news. The
two sisters discussed over the phone about reporting Meiyu’s story to bring
Jiang to justice. Ms. Zhao Langxiang recalled their conversations that might
have been subject to scrutiny by the Chinese intelligence: “In January I started
to suspect that my calls to my sister might be monitored.”
Subsequent developments confirmed her suspicion. After May 20, Ms. Zhao Langxiang
could no longer reach her sister. She became increasingly worried. Finally Langxiang’s
family in China reluctantly admitted to Langxiang that the police had arrested
Meiyu several days ago. The police suddenly broke into her brother’s home
in Shenzhen, and they searched everywhere for the draft of the lawsuit against
Jiang that Meiyu had planned to send to the United States. The police also took
away many valuables, and the family was terrified. They are afraid of calling
the police station, much less demand the return of Meiyu. Naturally they are
now afraid of discussing Meiyu’s case over the phone with Langxiang, worried
about police reprisals. Ms. Zhao Langxiang explained, “My family is overcome
with fear. They are very nervous and afraid of talking about my sister. The
police has declared this a 'major case.'”
The Chinese regime is allegedly trying to prevent at all costs the continuance
of the lawsuit against Jiang. They are under orders to arrests all probable
plaintiffs in the case, as well as everyone who helped collecting the evidence
for the proceedings against Jiang. According to a Washington DC federal government
official, the Chinese government has contacted the US government more frequently
than ever through diplomatic, military and economic channels, demanding the
US court to stop proceedings under the “head of state immunity” clause. All
signs point to Jiang Zemin sparing no expense or national resources in attempting
to stop the lawsuit against him.
On April 14, 2003, the plaintiffs' attorney, Terri Marsh, delivered documents
citing evidence of crimes by defendant Jiang and the “610 Office”, and other
evidence required under legal procedures. The U.S. Justice Department, representing
the U.S. government, which has received diplomatic pressure from Jiang, delivered
by the May 8 deadline, as ordered by the judge, documents that support the government’s
viewpoint to the court. About four to six weeks after May 8th, the
judge will decide whether the case has probable cause to either proceed or be
dismissed. His decision will be based on the documents provided by the plaintiff’s
attorney and U.S. government officials.
Terri Marsh, a human rights attorney from Washington DC, said, “In today’s
international community, crimes committed in a region or a country that are
against humanity will meet the opposition of the world’s people. After
WWII, Nazi war criminals were tried in Nuremberg, and many Nazis who participated
in the persecution of Jews were pursued and tried since that time. After genocide
took place in Rwanda, the United Nations established a court to try those responsible
for the atrocities. Jiang’s good friend, the former leader of Yugoslavia,
Slobodan Milosevic, is currently being tried in that same court. In China, the
persecution against Falun Gong practitioners who refuse to give up Truthfulness-Compassion-Tolerance
is taking place, and it is the world’s responsibility to put Jiang on trial.”
Terri Marsh also reminded us of the founding principles of the United States
as declared in the Declaration of Independence: “We hold these truths to be
self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their
Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty
and the Pursuit of Happiness.” She emphasized that the United States' global
mission has always been safeguarding the spirit of this Declaration of Independence.
She continued that the United States is now given the chance to uphold its fundamental
principles in the lawsuit against Jiang Zemin in the Chicago courtroom.
*The 610 Office is an agency specifically created to persecute Falun Gong,
with absolute power over each level of administration in the Party and all other
political or judicial systems.
Posting date: 31/May/2003
Original article date: 29/May/2003
Category: Media Reports
