(Clearwisdom.net) On November 12, 2004, in Vancouver, British Columbia, 120 Canadian practitioners filed a request with the Canadian Chief Prosecutor to sue five Chinese Communist officials, including Jiang Zemin, Luo Gan, Liu Jing, Zhou Yongkang and Li Lanqing, using Canada's Crimes against Humanity and War Crimes Act as the basis.
On September 15, 2004, the Minghui website (the Chinese version of Clearwisdom) published an article entitled "Notice Regarding Collecting Information About Orphans." Since then, information on more than 100 orphans who have been detained in China, their practitioner parents having died as a result of the persecution against Falun Gong, has been collected. These orphans include infants, preschoolers, students in primary schools, and teenagers.
Behind the numbers 120 and 100
On March 12, 2004, 63-year-old Professor Zhang Kunlun, a torture victim who was illegally abducted four times in China, entrusted Attorneys David Matas and Lawrence Greenspan to file a lawsuit in Canada against the 22 chief perpetrators, which included Jiang Zemin, Luo Gan, Liu Jing, Wu Guanzheng and 18 other Chinese officials that participated in the persecution against Professor Zhang Kunlun.
In Vancouver, the number of plaintiffs of this single lawsuit has reached 120 people. Some of them personally experienced the persecution in China: they were illegally detained and tortured mentally and physically; others have relatives in China who are suffering from the persecution right now. From this number, one can imagine just how many people are being harmed directly because of the persecution in China against Falun Gong.
During the past two months, information has been collected on more than 100 orphans. Many children have lost their parents and their security. The persecution also affects their grandparents and other relatives, who have to take care of the orphans, causing them mental stress and financial difficulties. The persecution of Falun Gong has harmed many more people than just the practitioners themselves.
The significance of 22 perpetrators
In the lawsuit initiated by 63-year-old Professor Zhang Kunlun, he pressed 45 charges against 22 chief perpetrators, including former president Jiang Zemin and top officials Luo Gan, Liu Jing, and Wu Guanzheng, as well as persecutors in the forced labor camp.
Attorney Mr. Matas explained that a different set of orders from the top levels of the Chinese government drove each of the four arrests and tortures that Mr. Zhang was subjected to. Each and every participant of the persecution against Mr. Zhang must face the legal consequences of his actions. Who plotted these arrests? Who was involved in the arrests? Who took part in the planning? Who performed the torture? No one will escape the legal consequences of their participation in the persecution.
Punishing the criminals according to the law is the general trend
Lawsuits brought against Jiang by Falun Gong practitioners have gone through several steps: in the beginning, practitioners called for the support of international society for justice; then they held public gatherings and symbolic performances to bring Jiang to justice; legal measures were then taken to protect the practitioners' legal rights. Some lawsuits have made significant progress. The legal actions taken against Mr. Su Rong, the Party Secretary of Gansu Province, by the Zambian Supreme Court, is one example.
Mr. Matas, one of the attorneys for the lawsuit brought about by the 120 Vancouver practitioners, pointed out that although the defendants are not in Canada, if the Chief Prosecutor agrees to proceed with this lawsuit, the Canadian government will formally file a complaint with the Supreme Court. The court will then establish the case and issue an arrest warrant. The Canadian government will issue the international arrest warrant through Interpol and demand that these criminals be delivered to Canada for trial.
Recently there have been rumors of top officials in the Chinese Communist Party discussing the restoration of Falun Gong's name as well as Jiang's desire to use the chance to escape legal punishment. However, global legal measures such as these against all major perpetrators of the persecution have eliminated the possibility of Jiang escaping legal punishment through political means. Jiang shall be brought to justice by the law.
11/15/2004