A Letter from the Chairperson of the Association for Threatened People – "To file a lawsuit against China’s former leader, Jiang Zemin, is a crucial step in bringing human rights abusers to justice."

Goettingen, November 20th, 2003.
Honourable Mr. Kaleck:

It is an urgent task for Germany and all other EU countries to bring human rights abusers to justice. Therefore, these countries and numerous international human rights organisations have made efforts to set up the International Court in 2002. It is a pity that the International Court can only investigate criminal behaviour committed after July 2002, that is, after the establishment of the court. The International Court is unable to conduct investigations into many of the serious human rights violations in China during the last ten years because they are not within the jurisdiction of the International Court.

The Association for Threatened People has been paying close attention to the long-term persecution of Falun Gong practitioners, Tibetan Buddhists, Uigur Muslims, Catholics, Christians and other pro-democracy activists. The reason that they have been persecuted is because they have publicly exercised their basic rights, which are enshrined in China’s constitution. These persecution cases have been manipulated by the state, under the direct order of the party and the state. That is, cases of persecution due to an individual’s religion, belief, view on worldwide events and political tendency should not be attributed to individual officials who abuse power, but to the party and to the state.

At the moment, it is still not optimistic to expect China to become a country ruled by law. When security members and state agents violate human rights, citizens are not likely to be protected by the law. As a result, people are calling on the international community to bring China’s human rights abusers to justice by taking legal action. The Association for Threatened People, in particular, expresses our support for any legal action to bring the evildoers, including China’s former leader, to court. To file a lawsuit against China’s former leader, Jiang Zemin, is a crucial step in bringing human rights abusers to justice. In April, 2002, during Jiang’s last visit as China’s leader to Germany, we submitted a lawsuit against Jiang to the federal court, but in vain. At that time, the case did not get very far because Jiang was privileged with immunity as “Head of State.” Today however, China’s new leaders are still carrying on with Jiang’s persecution. Therefore, we feel gratified by the lawsuit against Jiang since it can help to bring human rights abusers to justice.

Sincerely Yours.

Ulrich Delius (Chairperson of the Association for Threatened People, Asian Section)