Article from French Reunion Island Daily News: Li Lanqing should have been Sued in January

On August 6th 2003, French Reunion Island Daily News carried an article revealing that legal proceedings against Chinese Vice-Premier Li Lanqing have officially started in France. Li Lanqing is the head of the "610 Office", 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 in China. He is being charged with the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners.

According to attorney William Bourdon, who was known for being a lawyer in the lawsuit against Augusto Pinochet, non-governmental organisations were not fully informed about Li Lanqing’s stopover in French territory in January so the legal proceedings against Li actually started about a month ago. Therefore, a preliminary hearing judge in Paris was appointed to deal with this case pursuant to the International Convention against Torture, enacted on December 10th 1984, and other anti-abuse international conventions. The hearing reminded people that when Li Lanqing stopped over in Reunion Island in January, he was the Vice-Premier of the People's Republic of China.

Four witnesses submitted an indictment against Li to a public prosecutor in Nice on December 4th 2002. They accused him of cruel torture in the oppression of Falun Gong practitioners. One of the plaintiffs said that the lawsuit was in vain due to political pressure. The lawyers thus decided to refer the case to Paris. When the Chinese Vice-Premier set foot on French Reunion Island, it would have been a good opportunity to file the lawsuit, but the non-governmental organisations were not informed of this visit. At present, the judicial department is not aware of the whereabouts of Li Lanqing.

Translated from Chinese at http://www.yuanming.net/articles/200308/23141.html