Malaysia: Media Report Argentine Court Decision to Issue International Arrest Warrant for Jiang Zemin

The news that an Argentine judge ordered the indictment and international arrest of former Chinese Communist head Jiang Zemin received attention from Malaysian media. The Malaysian National News Agency and the largest English newspaper, The Star, both carried a report from Reuters. In addition, China Press, one of the largest Chinese-language newspapers, published a related report.

On December 23rd, the Malaysian National News Agency and The Star published a report from Reuters. The report said that Lamadrid, the judge of the Argentine Federal and Criminal Corrective Court No. 9, ordered the indictment and international arrest of former Chinese communist leader Jiang Zemin and his right hand man Luo Gan, on charges of genocide and torture of Falun Gong practitioners in China.

The report said that after four years of arduous investigation, Judge Lamadrid ordered the indictments of, and issued arrest warrants for Jiang Zemin and Luo Gan, former leader and former Secretary of the Political and Legal Affairs of the Central Committee of the CCP, respectively.

The report said that the judge made the ruling based on the principle of Universal Jurisdiction, which allows Argentine courts to process human rights issues in other countries.

According to the report from China Press, the Argentine court conducted an investigation which lasted 4 years and decided to issue international arrest warrants for former Chinese Communist head Jiang Zemin and former party Poliburo standing member Luo Gan on charges of genocide.

An attorney for Falun Gong practitioners commented that this ruling is of historic significance.

The China Press report also pointed out that the Spanish National Court issued a letter of request to Chinese authorities on November 19th requesting the indictment of former Chinese Communist head, Jiang Zemin, and four other high-ranking party officials for the persecution of Falun Gong.