The suit, which will be handed to federal prosecutors on Wednesday, accuses Jiang -- who remains China's military head -- of "torture, crimes against humanity and genocide," said lawyer Georges-Henri Beauthier in a statement.
The suit will be brought under new legislation adopted by Belgian lawmakers on August 5, to replace the controversial so-called "universal competence" law which notably led to cases against US and Israel leaders.
The old law, under which suits could be brought regardless of the nationality of the accused, the accusers or where the alleged crimes took place, resulted in intense diplomatic pressure on Belgium.
The new law, which covers "serious violations of international humanitarian law", allows suits to be brought only if there is a link between the alleged crimes and Belgium.
One of the plaintiffs in the new case, 31-year-old Belgian computer programmer Matthias Slaats, who has been a Falun Gong follower for three years, said Tuesday the lawsuit fulfilled the required criteria.
"I am Belgian and another plaintiff, who is Chinese, was resident in Belgium at the time (of the alleged crimes)," he told AFP, saying that he was arrested and deported from China in February 2002 as part of a crackdown on Falun Gong.
The other Chinese plaintiffs currently live in the United States, Ireland and Australia, he said. "We are talking about torture. Some of them have lost a family member. Some were imprisoned for a long time," he added.
China banned the Falun Gong four years ago after some 10,000 followers of the group surrounded the Communist Party leadership compound in central Beijing to protest a government crack-down.
Falun Gong, whose followers practise meditation to improve their physical and mental wellbeing, says that over 1,600 members have been tortured or beaten to death in China, over 500 have been given prison sentences of over 20 years, over 1,000 interned in mental hospitals and more than 25,000 held in work camps. Some 100,000 others are being held without trial, it says.
http://www.ptd.net/webnews/wed/ck/Qbelgium-china-law.REkZ_DaJ.html
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