Plaintiff seeks court assistance to compel DFAT to serve claim
NOTE: Correction has been made to month court request was made to DFAT which previously incorrectly stated August 2005 and now correctly reads September 2005.
Tuesday, 7 March 2006 Supreme Court of NSW, Macquarie Street, Sydney9:00am – Court Hearing11:00am – Press Conference (outside the court)
Tuesday 7 March 2006, a hearing will be held in the Supreme Court of NSW in relation to the lawsuit filed by Sydney resident and Falun Gong practitioner, Ms Zhang Cuiying, against former Chinese dictator Jiang Zemin and the 610 Office for torture she suffered in China because of her belief.
At the hearing the plaintiff will seek a court order to compel the Department of Foreign Affairs to serve the claim document to the defendants in China without further delay. The court requested DFAT to serve the document in September 2005; however the request has been ignorednot been carried out. The plaintiff believes that this is an intentional delay and is essentially obstructing the legal proceedings of the case.
“This is a human rights issue. One wonders if the Australian Government and DFAT in particular realise that [by not serving the papers] they are actually helping a totalitarian Communist regime that is responsible for over 80 million unnatural deaths under its reign and for the on-going brutal persecution of tens of millions of Falun Gong practitioners.” Said Ms Zhang, plaintiff for the case.
Further information:
DFAT correspondence obtained under the Freedom of Information Agreement in relation to the case (of which at least 60% of requested content was censored), stated that, “DFAT had sought legal advice and could assure the Chinese Government that it would do everything it could, within the law, to address China’s concerns.” And that, “The Government would do everything it could, within the law, to ensure that the case did not become a problem for the bilateral relationship.”
As reported in “The Australian” (Falun lawsuit strains China ties 15-11-04): “The claim sent China into a diplomatic frenzy. China’s ambassador to Australia, Fu Ying, has repeatedly visited the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade in Canberra to express concern over the case, raising it at various levels of the bureaucracy… ‘They can’t understand why the Government can’t just stop it from going ahead, like it would in China,’ a source said.”
The case was first filed in September 2004 under Common Law. It is one of dozens of cases against the Chinese former dictator who has also been sued for genocide and crimes against humanity in relation to his role in instigating the persecution of Falun Gong. For more information on legal proceedings worldwide, visit: www.flgjustice.org.
