"Politikis" Newspaper, Cyprus: Visiting Chinese Leader Almost Sued in Cyprus
Tuesday 28th October 2003
Mr Wu Guanzheng, a member of the Communist Party Politburo and third in the Chinese chain of command, almost found himself part of the Cypriot court system while on an official visit to Cyprus yesterday. A political lawsuit was filed against Mr Guanzheng, who met with the President Taso Papadopoylo and the Speaker of the House Dimitri Christofia, on behalf of Zhuang Kunlun, a Canadian citizen of Chinese origin who seeks compensation for crimes against humanity.
However, the Chinese official was not served with the lawsuit because the Cypriot police prevented the clerk from executing his duty. The Cypriot government professes ignorance to this occurrence, but the prosecution's lawyer, Larry Brahimis, reported to "Poitikis" that the non-deliverance of the lawsuit was a political decision made by the Cypriot police.
Case History
The lawsuit against Mr Guanzheng is included in the framework of an organised struggle begun by all Chinese citizens, not only those who have relatives or have themselves been imprisoned and brutalised by the Chinese government.
It involves advocates of the physical exercise method (Falun Gong) that is rhetorically forbidden to Chinese citizens by the regime. This is because it is a way of life and part of the Chinese culture that the ruling Communist party doesn't favour.
Unsubstantiated information that we have gathered on the internet states that over the last four years, 805 Chinese citizens have been killed after being subjected to torture in an attempt to make them abandon this particular way of life.
The wife of one of the dead practitioners was in Cyprus this time to help with the lawsuit, and also to raise awareness of the Cypriot people regarding these incidents in China. Through a small investigation we ascertained that similar lawsuits, with accusations of genocide or breaches of human rights, have been lodged against other high-ranking officials in courts in Spain (15-10-2003), Moldava (18-9-2003), Armenia (16-9-2003), Finland, Ireland, Australia, Belgium, France, Switzerland and, of course, the U.S.A.
Mr Kunlun, who is prosecuting the member of the Communist Party that visited Cyprus, was arrested three times and, according to him, was beaten and tortured while he was working in the same province that the Chinese Official is the provincial secretary of.
Through the lawsuit, he is seeking compensation for physical and emotional hardship, as well as the permanent damage that he has endured, and also declarations that affirm the illegal nature of the politics of the Chinese Government against all those who practise this particular practice, acknowledging the leading role of Mr Wu Guanzheng in committing these crimes, and affirming that they constitute crimes against humanity.
