BRUSSELS, Aug 19 (Reuters) – A top Belgian lawyer will bring a court case
against China’s former president Jiang Zemin on Wednesday, saying his
crackdown on the Falun Gong spiritual movement broke Belgium’s human rights
law.
One of the plaintiffs in the case, Matthias Slaats, told Reuters on Tuesday
a number of Falun Gong members in countries including Belgium, the United
States and Australia were filing the suit for torture, crimes against
humanity and genocide.
“We think we have a very strong file otherwise we would not proceed with the
case,” he said.
Their lawyer, Georges-Henri Beauthier, has represented the plaintiffs in
Belgium’s most notorious case, that against Marc Dutroux, who is to stand
trial for abduction, rape and murder.
He also brought the first successful case under the human rights law, in
which two Rwandan nuns were sentenced to between 12 and 20 years for their
part in the country’s 1994 genocide.
The Belgian parliament watered down the law earlier this month after suits
against U.S. President George W. Bush and key U.S. officials soured
relations with the United States.
Under the reformed law, only Belgians or long-term residents of the country
could bring a legal action, and only within strict conditions and
international immunity rules.
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L1972707.htm
Posting date: 20/Aug/2003
Original article date: 19/Aug/2003
Category: Media Report
