Appeals Court Issues Opinion in Jiang Zemin Genocide Case

CHICAGO – The 7th Circuit
Court of Appeals issued its opinion in Wei Ye, Hao Wang, Does A-F, and others
similarly situated v Jiang Zemin and Office 610 on Wednesday, September 8.
The Court of Appeals, in an opinion very sympathetic to the plaintiffs, affirmed
the District Court’s decision, which had denied the plaintiff’s suit. The plaintiffs
plan to appeal to the Supreme Court.

On October 18, 2002, Falun Gong practitioners
and their families had filed a lawsuit in the Northern District Court of Illinois
against defendant Jiang Zemin and China’s “610 Office,” the office set up for
the purpose of carrying out a campaign of terror to eradicate Falun Gong. The
suit alleged torture, genocide and other crimes against humanity. After the District
Court denied the plaintiff’s suit on September 12, 2003, they appealed to the
U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals on November 14, 2003.

Although sympathetic
to the appellants’ claims, the Appeals Court believes that a response to these
crimes should be carried out by the Executive Branch through diplomatic channels,
rather than through a decision by the Courts (“Success depends on diplomacy, not
United States courts.”).

The Appeals Court’s sensitivity to the issues presented
by the plaintiffs is clear throughout the opinion. For example, the Court acknowledged
former President Jiang Zemin’s role in initiating the persecution, by among other
things, the establishment of the unconstitutional Office 610, his issuance of
the July 1999 edict banning Falun Gong, followed by arrests and alleged “farcical
trials, torture, forced labor, re-education, and the killings of members.”

According
to Terri Marsh, the attorney for the plaintiffs, this language, and especially
the Court’s characterization of the “mock trials” of Falun Gong practitioners
as “farcical” “underscores the huge gap between the rights guaranteed to the Chinese
people by their Constitution and the Jiang regime’s use of the legal system not
only to deprive so many Chinese citizens of these very same rights, but to torture,
brainwash and exterminate them unlawfully.”

At issue in the decision is the
means for handling complaints such as those of the Falun Gong practitioners, not
the validity of those complaints. Crucial to the Court of Appeals decision was
the doctrine of separation of powers. The Court chose to defer to the separation
of powers argument presented by the Department of Justice in holding that the
United States can best express its interest in ending the persecution of Falun
Gong in China via diplomatic channels.

Nevertheless, the court in its decision
accepted as fact the crimes the plaintiffs allege Jiang and those loyal to him
perpetuated against Falun Gong.

Similarly, while the Department of Justice
argued that the persecution is better handled through diplomatic interventions
than court decisions, the Department of Justice agreed with the Plaintiffs as
to the nature of the persecution. In oral arguments, Justice Department lawyer
Douglas Letter described the persecution as “heinous.”

Jiang Zemin began the
persecution of Falun Gong on July 20, 1999. Directed from the top down by an agency,
the 610 Office, with the power to coerce Chinese Communist Party and government
officials to take part, the persecution has been systematic, brutal, and comprehensive.
Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, the Department of State’s annual country
reports on China, and U.N. Special Rapporteurs, among other human rights organizations
and governmental authorities, have reported widespread torture, brainwashing,
and extra-judicial killings. The Falun Dafa Information Center has documented
cases of pregnant women, young mothers, an infant, the elderly and the infirm
suffering torture and extra-judicial killing.

The Falun Dafa Information Center
reports that 1,038 Falun Gong practitioners have been confirmed dead, but believes
the true number is at least five times that. It also reports at least 100,000
practitioners held in China’s forced-labor camps.

This persecution lacks support
within the Chinese Communist Party. As Willy Lam, CNN’s China analyst noted in
September, 2001 “It is no secret that several Politburo members thought the president
had used the wrong tactics… By unleashing a Mao-style movement, Jiang is forcing
senior cadres to pledge allegiance to his line,”

Terri Marsh vowed to continue
to use legal means to hold Jiang Zemin and the others responsible for the persecution
accountable. “The persecution of Falun Gong will end. However, in the US and around
the world lawyers will continue to file lawsuits against Jiang Zemin and other
collaborating officials until Jiang Zemin is brought to justice. The appeal of
today’s decision will be filed with the Supreme Court forthwith.”