Mark Palmer is the former US ambassador to Hungary and a vice-chair of Freedom House, a prominent human rights organization. He is also a founding member of Friends of Falun Gong USA, a U.S.-based non-profit human rights group. In an interview with FoFG, he discusses the accountability of the Jiang Zemin regime in the persecution of Falun Gong, and the corruption of the regime's elite, who have brought vast sums of money out of China into the United States and other countries. The following is an excerpt of the interview.

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Q: Recently, an interview was held with Mr. Stewart Weisman, Esq. who is the legal counsel for the World Organization to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong, a group focusing on investigating the criminal conduct of those involved in the persecution of Falun Gong, and bringing them to justice. He indicated that the group will be seeking to confiscate the properties of the corrupt government officials with the liquidated value of the assets going to the victims of the persecution. Do you have any comment on this?

A: It is a well-established principle of jurisprudence that victims should be compensated from the assets of those who commit crimes against them. When this is done through a transparent judicial process based on the rule of law it is fair and reasonable. Wherever the properties of corrupt Chinese party cadre and government officials can be identified I fully support court procedures and decisions resulting in the liquidated value of those assets going to the victims -- Falun Gong and others in China -- who are suffering from corruption and oppression.

Q: Given the recent reported successes of the United States in tracking and stopping the flow of money into the hands of Al Qaeda terrorists, how confident are you that the United States has the capacity to monitor the "corrupt gains" earned from the persecution of Falun Gong that the Chinese elite may be funneling into the U.S.?

A: The U.S. Government's ability to track, stop and seize corrupt money flows has been significantly enhanced in recent years. We are most successful when we have been able to work with other democratic governments. Of course we are unlikely to receive genuine Chinese Communist Government cooperation, because the Communist Party's leaders prevent it from taking significant steps to end corruption. The Party has always prosecuted anti-graft activists and activities as vigorously as corrupt cadres. While democratic governments' ability in this field is far from perfected, it is highly likely that a concerted and persistent campaign will unearth significant corrupt Chinese assets in the United States and other countries. The problem is political understanding and political will. [...] the general U.S. Government view from the Nazi leaders forward to Milosevic and others is that political leaders are subject to international legal actions. Surely Jiang Zemin should not be exempted given the scale of his human rights violations.

[...] For the U.S. Government to aggressively find and expose corrupt Chinese Communist elites and their American assets would endear us to the vast majority of the Chinese people. It would encourage them to demand an honest, accountable system in China, one in which judges act according to the law and not the Communist bosses and their personal interests. Falun Gong's use of the media and Internet here and in China is critical. Demonstrations in Washington and other capitals focused on these issues are key. Using the courts in the United States and elsewhere can bring huge benefits.

FoFG USA is a non-profit human rights organization whose mission is to support Falun Gong practitioners' freedom of belief. We are a member-based organization and membership is free. To join, please visit our website: http://www.fofg.org/act/act_join.php