Jiang Zemin and His Overseas Followers Charged with Violation of Civil Rights of Falun Gong Practitioners

On October 22 2002, the first day of Jiang Zemin's visit to the U.S., certain persecuted Falun Gong practitioners and their family members served Jiang Zemin and his followers with a lawsuit filed in Illinois Federal Court in Chicago. The charges levied against Jiang Zemin are: genocide as well as conspiracy between him and officials from the "610 Office" [The "610 Office" is an agency specifically created to persecute Falun Gong, with absolute power over each level of administration in the Party and all other political and judiciary systems.] who planned and schemed to deprive scores of U.S. citizens and permanent residents of their civil rights. In coordination with the persecution against Falun Gong practitioners in China, the defendants have spread and are extending their persecution and intimidation of Falun Gong practitioners into the U.S. By doing so, the violators have thereby transgressed against 42 U.S.C. section 1985.

During the last four years of the persecution, more than 600 Falun Gong practitioners have been tortured to death. The persecution has extended abroad and it has even affected U.S. citizens who are Falun Gong practitioners. Some practitioners received threats, slander, beatings and had their cars burned, and some U.S. citizens were arrested in China. The defendants have compiled a list of Falun Gong practitioners and their supporters in order to restrict their right to travel. Their human rights and freedom of belief have been severely violated.

Therefore, Falun Gong practitioners have filed this suit to request the court system to severely punish participants in this persecution, and to investigate and freeze any and all illegal fixed assets, monetary and other illegally obtained properties in the U.S., of Jiang Zemin, the "610 Office" officials, those of spies who joined the persecution in the U.S., and related high rank government officials and their children. We request to use their illegally obtained properties to compensate the victims for their physical and psychological losses. The requested amount of compensation is US$50 million to US$1.7 billion. Below is an excerpt from the lawsuit.

EIGHTH CAUSE OF ACTION: CONSPIRACY TO COMMIT

VIOLATIONS OF CIVIL RIGHTS WITHIN THE JURISDICTION OF THE U.S.

In addition to their tort actions constituting violations of international law, Defendants also conspired together and with others to deprive a number of individual in the United States of their civil rights, in violation of 42, U.S.C. 1985.

Specifically, and in conjunction with, and in support of, this campaign of repression against the Falun Gong in China, the Defendants extended their effort to persecute and intimidate Falun Gong practitioners, and to restrict their right to protest against Chinese Government policies of repression and torture, to practitioners here in the United States and other Western nations. Defendants, as an integral part of their campaign of persecution and discreditation of Falun Gong spiritual practice and its practitioners in China, compiled a list of known practitioners and supporters of Falun Gong in other countries and circulated this list as part of a campaign to prevent supporters and practitioners from traveling to Iceland and other nations to protest peacefully the appearance in those countries of the Defendants and other Chinese officials engaging in the campaign of persecution against Falun Gong. For example, in connection with the visit of Defendant JIANG to Iceland in June of 2002, the Defendants gave this list, which they had already compiled, to the Government of Iceland and to Icelandair, as well as to the Icelandic Parliament, with a formal request from the Government of China that Falun Gong practitioners be prevented from coming into the country. This list, and the request of the Government of China played a substantial role in causing the infliction of damages and violations of law described in this complaint. There are numerous reports that this or a similar list of practitioners was used by the Chinese Government as early as May 7, 2001 to seek to prevent the entry of practitioners into Hong Kong during a visit there by President Jiang.

These torts committed in the United States, constitute violations of the civil rights of the U S. citizens and alien residents living in the U.S. in violation of 42 U.S.C. section 1985, including the right to travel, the right to freely hold, observe, and exercise spiritual beliefs, the right to associate freely with others, and the right to exercise fundamental freedom of speech and expression. For the majority of those whose names appeared on the Falun Gong "blacklist" compiled by the Defendants, who are alien residing in the United States, those actions constituted violations of both 42 U.S.C. section 1985, and the Alien Tort and Torture Victims Protection Act.

II. DAMAGES

The defendants are charged with serious crimes, recognized not only by their own Constitution, but also by the constitutions and international treaties honored by all civilized nations around the globe. If the defendants do not reply to the charges filed against them, plaintiffs will file a motion for a default judgment, and will bring witnesses to testify under oath that the defendants are guilty as charged. Given the extraordinary and gross human rights abuses perpetrated by both defendants in this case and the extent of the injuries their conduct produced, we anticipate a damage award in the range (50 million to 1.7 billion) of those awarded by juries for similar types type of gross human rights abuses and violations.

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2003/3/27/47292.html