BRUSSELS, Aug 19 (AFP) – Six followers of the banned Chinese spiritual
movement Falungong are to file a lawsuit against former president Jiang
Zemin for crimes against humanity, under a new Belgian law, their attorney
said Tuesday.
The suit, which will be handed to federal prosecutors on Wednesday, accuses
Jiang — who remains China’s military head — of “torture, crimes against
humanity and genocide,” said lawyer Georges-Henri Beauthier in a statement.
The suit will be brought under new legislation adopted by Belgian lawmakers
on August 5, to replace the controversial so-called “universal competence”
law which notably led to cases against US and Israel leaders.
The old law, under which suits could be brought regardless of the
nationality of the accused, the accusers or where the alleged crimes took
place, resulted in intense diplomatic pressure on Belgium.
The new law, which covers “serious violations of international humanitarian
law”, allows suits to be brought only if there is a link between the alleged
crimes and Belgium.
One of the plaintiffs in the new case, 31-year-old Belgian computer
programmer Matthias Slaats, who has been a Falungong follower for three
years, said Tuesday the lawsuit fulfilled the required criteria.
“I am Belgian and another plaintiff, who is Chinese, was resident in Belgium
at the time (of the alleged crimes),” he told AFP, saying that he was
arrested and deported from China in February 2002 as part of a crackdown on
Falungong.
The other Chinese plaintiffs currently live in the United States, Ireland
and Australia, he said. “We are talking about torture. Some of them have
lost a family member. Some were imprisoned for a long time,” he added.
China banned the Falungong four years ago after some 10,000 followers of the
group surrounded the Communist Party leadership compound in central Beijing
to protest a government crack-down.
Falungong, whose followers practise meditation to improve their physical and
mental wellbeing, says that over 1,600 members have been tortured or beaten
to death in China, over 500 have been given prison sentences of over 20
years, over 1,000 interned in mental hospitals and more than 25,000 held in
work camps. Some 100,000 others are being held without trial, it says.
http://www.ptd.net/webnews/wed/ck/Qbelgium-china-law.REkZ_DaJ.html
Posting date: 20/Aug/2003
Original article date: 19/Aug/2003
Category: Media Report
