International Falun Gong Plaintiffs Win Torture Lawsuits

NEW
YORK (FDI) — We are encouraged by last Wednesday's(December 8) U.S. court
ruling which found two high-ranking Chinese officials liable for crimes of torture,
genocide, and other crimes against humanity.

This ruling adds to the momentum
of 47 lawsuits filed in 29 countries and six continents against Chinese officials
who have actively persecuted Falun Gong practitioners. These lawsuits have become
the largest international collaborative legal effort since the Nuremberg Nazi
trials.

Although facing pressure from the Chinese government, the U.S. judges
did not dismiss the case, but rather sent an important message to China: those
who persecute Falun Gong practitioners will be held accountable for their crimes,
irrespective of rank or official position.

Moreover, the judges found that
the alleged persecutory acts committed by Beijing Party Secretary Liu Qi and Dalian
Mayor Xia Deren are not only in violation of U.S. law and international law, but
even in violation of Chinese law. Therefore, the officials are not immune and
were found liable for the crimes alleged against them.

The cases set an
important precedent for other lawsuits against Chinese officials brought under
the very same U.S. statutes and federal law.

Council will seek to bar these
and other defendants from visits to the United States through official channels.

Details
of the Ruling

8 December 2004, Judge Wilkin of Northern California's
U.S. District Court adopted Magistrate Chen's recommendation finding Liu
and Xia liable for crimes that violate international treaties ratified by China,
the Chinese Constitution and law, as well as international law.

The U.S.
District Court denied the defendants' attempts to get these cases dismissed,
saying that: “This Court accords great weight to the factors that address the
merits of the Plaintiffs' substantive claims and the sufficiency of the complaint
and evidence supporting their claims.”

The officials were sued under the
Alien Tort Claims Act and the Torture Victims Protection Act, which allow plaintiffs
to take action in U.S. courts against foreign perpetrators of torture.

Xia,
the current mayor of Dalian, has played an active role in persecuting Party members
who are Falun Gong practitioners. Current Beijing Party Secretary Liu, who is
also the former Beijing mayor and head of the Beijing Olympic Committee, has made
public statements in fervent support of the eradication policy toward Falun Gong
– what many human rights lawyers are calling a genocide. Under his watch, Beijing
became the hub for arresting Falun Gong practitioners who legally submitted petition
letters to the Chinese government or peacefully raised banners on Tiananmen Square.
Innumerable Falun Gong practitioners have been tortured and killed in China's
capital.

Liu was sued by two plaintiffs from China, and six plaintiffs from
Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Sweden, and the United States. Although there
is no indication that either defendant directly tortured anyone, still the Court
found both of them liable for torture and other serious human rights abuses based
on an application of the standard of command responsibility, aiding and abetting,
and conspiracy, applied in several cases brought under the Alien Tort Claim Act
and Torture Victim Protection Act in U.S. courts.

The ruling on these cases
states that although “the People's Republic of China appears to have covertly
authorized but publicly disclaimed the alleged human rights violations caused
or permitted by Defendants… such violations are in fact prohibited by Chinese
law.” Therefore, “their alleged acts are not acts of an agency or instrumentality
of the People's Republic of China within the meaning of the FSIA, and sovereign
immunity thereunder does not lie.”

We wish to sincerely thank the Center
for Justice and Accountability and their attorneys Joshua Sondheimer and Sandra
Colliver, as well as Morton Sklar, Executive Director of the World Organization
Against Torture USA, for their tireless work on this case.

Attorney Dr.
Terri Marsh, who also worked on the case, can be contacted at (202) 369-4977.

Sandra
Colliver, at The Center for Justice and Accountability, can be contacted at (415)
544-0444.