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In response to the U.S. lawsuit against Jiang Zemin, the former head of China, for genocide against Falun Gong followers, the Chinese Security Bureau established a nationwide “Special Felony Investigation Network” that investigates and eliminates all activities involved with the development of the lawsuit. Throughout China, the “Special Felony Investigation Network” treats all probable plaintiffs and those who seek justice in the lawsuit as felonious criminals. It spies on, monitors, controls, and arrests all probable Chinese plaintiffs in the genocide lawsuit against Jiang Zemin. In fact, recently the organisation allegedly already arrested people suspected of being plaintiffs or of assisting in the collection of evidence of the persecution against Falun Gong practitioners throughout China. In mid-May an American resident’s younger sister Zhao Meiyu was suddenly taken from her home, because she is a plaintiff in the lawsuit.
Ms. Zhao Langxiang is a Chinese American resident in Maryland. This year she called her little sister Zhao Meiyu in China and told her that the US court in Chicago is now processing a lawsuit against Jiang Zemin. Being a torture victim, who luckily survived the forced labour camp where she was imprisoned for one and a half years and which is run by the Chinese “610 Office”, Ms. Zhao Meiyu decided to be a plaintiff to bring Jiang to justice. [The “610 Office” is a bureau specifically created by the Chinese government to persecute Falun Gong. It has absolute power over each level of administration in the Party, as well as over the political and judiciary branches.] One day in mid-May, the police in Zhao Meiyu’s hometown Hui Zhou, Guangdong Province travelled over 100 miles to Sheng Zhen to ransack her home, and confiscated her draft of the lawsuit against Jiang before they took her away to the Hui Zhou police station. While ransacking the home, the local policemen from Hui Zhou showed a search warrant directly issued by the Chinese Customs Headquarters. At first, Ms. Zhao Langxiang could not understand why a high-level jurisdiction unit such as the Chinese Customs Headquarters would go through the trouble of issuing a search warrant to the police station in a city like Hui Zhou, until she recalled her recent conversations with her sister on the sensitive topic of the “lawsuit against Jiang Zemin.” That must have triggered the alarm and alerted top-level management of the Chinese Security Bureau, such as the Chinese Customs Headquarters.
Ms. Zhao Langxiang said, “Zhao Meiyu is my youngest sister. She has been practising Falun Gong since 1998. She is now 25 years old. She lived with one of my brothers in Sheng Zhen before the police took her away. One day in mid-May…I don’t know which day because my family is afraid to talk about her case over the phone…a group of Chinese policemen broke into my brother’s home, took all the valuables and a draft of the lawsuit against Jiang Zemin, and then kidnapped her. She has not come back since.”
According to Ms. Zhao Langxiang, her little sister Zhao Meiyu visited the National Appeal Bureau in Beijing to explain the truth about Falun Gong in December 1999 and January 2000. On both occasions the National Appeal Bureau called the police in Hui Zhou to take her straight to jail before she had a chance to speak up for Falun Gong. In 1999, Meiyu was imprisoned for 15 days before her family bailed her out with 10,000 Yuan. In 2000, Meiyu was sentenced to a year and half of forced labour at the San Sui Women’s Forced Labour Camp in Guangdong Province. Ms. Zhao Langxiang added, “My baby sister was made to perform forced labour in jail for long periods until May 2002 simply because she chooses to practise Falun Gong. She lost her job and her home. My poor baby sister.”
Ms. Zhao Langxiang recalled her sister’s days at the Forced Labour Camp: “When Meiyu was at San Sui, she experienced all possible types of torture. To make her renounce Falun Gong, the ‘610 Office’ would hold her in a narrow solitary confinement cell with no light and horrific sanitary conditions. When she was not undergoing solitary confinement, my baby sister was made to perform hard labour for 12 hours a day!” Therefore, Ms. Zhao Langxiang felt very encouraged when she heard that American Falun Gong practitioners had filed a lawsuit in the Chicago court against Jiang Zemin. Langxiang telephoned her newly released sister immediately to share the good news. The two sisters discussed reporting Meiyu’s tragic story to bring Jiang to justice. Ms. Zhao Langxiang recalled that their conversations might have been subject to scrutiny by the Chinese intelligence: “Since January, I started to suspect that my calls to my sister might be monitored.”
The subsequent developments confirmed her suspicion. Since May 20, Ms. Zhao Langxiang failed to reach her sister. She became increasingly worried. Finally Langxiang’s family in China reluctantly admitted to Langxiang that the police had arrested Meiyu several days ago. The police suddenly broke into her brother’s home in Sheng Zhen and searched everything and everywhere for the draft of the lawsuit against Jiang Zemin that Meiyu had planned to send to the United States. The police had also taken many valuables. The family is extremely terrified. They are afraid of calling the police station, not to mention demanding the return of Meiyu. Naturally they are now afraid of discussing Meiyu’s case over the phone with Langxiang, worrying that the police will take vicious revenge on them. Ms. Zhao Langxiang explained, “My family is overcome with fear. They are afraid of speaking about my sister. They are sitting on the edge of their seats. The police that broke into my brother’s home said, ‘we have made an arrest that will win us great rewards’.”
The Chinese government is allegedly trying to prevent the continuance of the lawsuit against Jiang Zemin at all costs. They are under orders to arrests all probable plaintiffs in the case, as well as everyone who helped to collect the evidence for the proceedings against Jiang. According to a Washington, DC federal government official, the Chinese government has contacted the US government more frequently than ever through diplomatic, military and economic channels, demanding the US court to stop proceedings under a “head of state immunity” clause. All signs are that Jiang Zemin spares no expenses and national resources in attempting to stop the lawsuit against him.
On April 14, 2003, the plaintiff’s attorney, Terri Marsh, delivered documents citing evidence of crimes by defendant Jiang Zemin and the “610 Office” and other evidence required under legal procedures. The U.S. Justice Department, representing the U.S. government, which has received diplomatic pressure from Jiang, delivered by the May 8 deadline, as ordered by the judge, documents that support the government’s viewpoint to the court. About four to six weeks after May 8th, the judge will decide whether the case has probable cause to either proceed or be dismissed. His decision is based on the documents provided by the plaintiff’s attorney and the U.S. government officials.
Terri Marsh, a human rights attorney from DC said, “In today’s international community, crimes committed in a region or a country that are against humanity will meet the opposition of the world’s people. After world war two, Nazi war criminals were tried in Nuremberg, and many Nazis who participated in the persecution of Jews were pursued and tried long after that time. After genocide took place in Rwanda, the United Nations established a court to try those responsible for the atrocities. Jiang’s good friend, the former leader of Yugoslavia, Slobodan Milosevic, is currently being tried in that same court. In China, the persecution against Falun Gong practitioners who refuse to give up Truth-Compassion-Tolerance is taking place, and it is the world’s responsibility to put Jiang on trial.”
Terri Marsh also reminded us of the founding principles of the United States as declared in the Declaration of Independence: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain Unalienable Rights, which among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.” She emphasised that the United States’ global mission has always been safeguarding the spirit of this Declaration of Independence. She continued that the United States is now given the chance to uphold its fundamental principles in the lawsuit against Jiang Zemin in the Chicago court.
Chinese version available at http://www.yuanming.net/articles/200305/20810.html
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