Belgium: Renowned Lawyer Georges-Henri Beauthier talks about the Progress of the Lawsuit against Jiang

On August 20th, a lawsuit was filed against Jiang Zemin, Li Lanqing and Luo Gan on charges of genocide, crimes against humanity and cruel torture. A federal prosecutor wrote a letter to the plaintiffs.

In fact, the law stipulates that federal prosecutors are there to decide whether a case should proceed to the inquisitional procedure or defer because it follows one of four presumptions:

1. The accusation is entirely groundless, or


2. The facts that are raised are not in conformity with the law that is stipulated in the first chapter of the second volume of the criminal code, or


3. The accusation has not be subjected to public prosecution, or


4. According to the actual circumstances of the case, the following conclusions can be drawn: In order to effectively enforce judicial management and fulfil international obligations that Belgium is obliged to observe, the case shall be dealt with regard to international laws, the laws of the place where the crimes are perpetrated, the laws in the country where the perpetrators dwell, or the laws in the country where the perpetrators can be arrested, so as to conform to the principles of independence, justice and impartiality, in particular international obligations between Belgium and the country related.

Apparently, the law requires the federal prosecutor to make a decision regarding these stipulations. He did not mention that China violates international human rights conventions, nor did he mention that China does not sentence criminals fairly. Both Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have pointed out that these illegal acts exist in China.

On the contrary, federal prosecutors believe that the Belgian plaintiffs and victims who live in Belgium “cannot be deemed victims of these acts that gravely violate international human right conventions as defined in the first chapter of the second volume of the criminal code.” However, the law doesn’t actually require him to rule on the case.

The indictment clearly states that the plaintiffs represent a part of an organisation or group acknowledged worldwide (not limited to China), which are persecuted due to political, national, ethnical, tribal, cultural, religious or other reasons that are not permitted by acknowledged international laws (The definition of genocide and persecution stipulated in international laws).

The plaintiffs immediately wrote a letter to the Belgium’s Minister of Justice to ask her to order the federal prosecutor to continue investigating the case. They are currently waiting for a reply. The plaintiff’s hopes that the minister is able to give them an answer in the affirmative.

Translated from Chinese at http://www.yuanming.net/articles/200310/25001.html