Zhang Dejiang, Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Committee of Guangdong Province was served today with a summons from the Supreme Court of NSW for the crime of torture against Sydney resident Ms Xie Yan. Ms Xie was tortured for two years and two months in a forced labour camp in Guangdong Province in China and escaped to Australia in 2004.
Zhang Dejiang was attending the China Guangdong – Australia Business Conference 2005 when he was served the papers and has 28 days in which to respond to the Court. A Criminal Complaint was also made to the Australian Federal Police this morning against Zhang Dejiang and Wang Huayuan, Deputy Party Secretary of the CCP Committee of Guangdong Province and Lu Xiao, Deputy Director of the 610 office of Guangdong Province, who are also believed to be part of the Guangdong delegation.
In a similar action taken in the U.S. in 2002, former Mayor of Beijing, Liu Qi, was sued for genocide and crimes against humanity in relation to the persecution of Falun Gong in China. Although he fled the country after the Court Summons, a default verdict found him guilty.
While all legal remedies to help bring justice to victims of the persecution in China have been blocked, Australia has a well-defined national legislative framework of enforcing Australia’s obligations to the UN Convention Against Torture through the Crimes (Torture) Act 1988. Such legal actions are a peaceful means to bring an end to the persecution in China and bring justice to the victims and their families.
Posting date: 9/Nov/2005
Original article date: 8/Nov/2005
Category: Australian News
