Germany: Letting People know about the Lawsuit against Jiang Outside the Procuratorate

On Saturday the 6th of March from 10 am until 10 pm, over 50 practitioners from the German city of Karlsruhe and the surrounding cities held an activity on the Karlsruhe City Square, to collect petition signatures in support of the persecuted practitioners in China and to inform the public about the latest development in the lawsuit against former Chinese President Jiang Zemin and his regime. The lawsuit was filed in the German Federal Procuratorate in Karlsruhe. This is the second activity held in the city since practitioners filed an indictment.

On the 20th of November 2003, 41 practitioners from all over the world filed a criminal indictment in the German Federal Procuratorate in Karlsruhe, Germany, which is the highest Procuratorate in Germany, suing 16 high level officials in China. The lawsuit recipients include former Chinese President Jiang Zemin, who is the main instigator of the persecution of Falun Gong, and discipline officers in re-education camps who actively participated in persecuting Falun Gong practitioners. The indictment accuses them of committing the Crime of Genocide, Crimes Against Humanity, the Crime of Implementing Torture and Grievous Bodily Harm. Presently, the Federal Procuratorate is trying this case in order to decide whether to initiate criminal investigation procedures.

Handling this case is famous German human rights lawyer Wolfgang Kaleck. The lawsuit against Argentina’s military dictator, in which Mr. Kaleck is representing the German victims, made a recent big development lately. Last December, the German courts issued a warrant to arrest the defendant. At the end of January, due to the arrest warrant from Germany, Argentinean policemen arrested the three former dictators including former Argentinean President Videla. The German government has requested the Argentinean government to escort these three defendants to Germany to be put on trial.

In a letter addressing the event, solicitor Kaleck said, “I hope the Procuratorate will try its best to help those in China being persecuted regain the rights that belong to them...As for those who are found to have committed heavy crimes after investigation, an international investigation order should be issued...The investigations in Germany should encourage criminal investigation organizations in other countries to conduct independent investigations and accumulate experience so that in the future, a criminal indictment against crimes that violate human rights can be filed in China, the most suitable place for such an indictment.”

This event also won the support of all circles of society. Member of Parliament Renate Rastaetter said in a congratulatory letter, “I would like to join in condemning the large scale persecution of Falun Gong practitioners in China. When people in China are subjected to torture and killed because of their faith or for practising exercises, the international society and democratic countries should not sit and do nothing.” She also expressed gratitude for the efforts made by Falun Gong practitioners towards upholding human rights.

Many non-governmental organizations also sent messages expressing their support for the activity. The acting chairman for the International Human Rights Association Karl Hafen issued a statement read by another member of the association. The opening paragraph of the statement pointed out: “The fact that Jiang Zemin is the greatest living criminal of human rights atrocities has been exposed.” Subsequently, Hafen wrote a lengthy description of the propaganda initiated by Jiang against Falun Gong practitioners, as well as the national terrorism carried out both physically and mentally.

One of the members of the Global Coalition to Bring Jiang to Justice, human rights organization Society of Oppressed Peoples tried to bring a suit against Jiang during his visit to Germany in April 2002. However, this was rejected because the head of a country is exempt from persecution. This organization wrote a letter to support this activity in Karlsruhe: “The persecution of Falun Gong in China is not the problem of several police officers. It is due to the systematic plan instructed by the Communist party and its leaders to eliminate Falun Gong….It is important that those who are or who had been leaders in China committing crimes against human rights be sent to court in every place in the world.”

MP of Karlsruhe city Professor Vogt accepted the invitation and came to the practitioners’ activity to express his support for Falun Gong practitioners’ and the upholding of human rights. He also had a detailed conversation with practitioners who had gone to appeal in Tiananmen Square and obtained deeper understanding of the extent of the persecution and why Falun Gong practitioners are willing to take such great risks to appeal.

As the activity site was facing a busy Saturday market and this market is one of the busy parts of the city, many passers-by saw practitioners demonstrating the exercise movements among big banners in Chinese and German, reading “Global Public Trial of Jiang Zemin”, “Crimes of Genocide – Jiang Zemin, Luo Gan, Liu Qi, Zhou Yongkang”. Many people came up close to see the big display board made up of the photos of around ten Falun Gong practitioners who have died in this persecution. The boards were decorated with lotus flowers. A continuous flow of people came to the table to sign petitions supporting the lawsuit. Sometimes, there was even a queue in front of the table waiting to sign petitions.

The organizer of the event Michael Hackmayer said: “The aim of this gathering is to get more people to be concerned about the persecution of a large group of people who practise Falun Gong in China and to call for an end to this persecution as soon as possible through international pressure. Before the gathering, we sent invitation letters to judges of the Procuratorate and government officials in Karlsruhe city introducing the progress of the case. We will continue to maintain contact with them.”

Before and after the indictment was raised in November 2003, several media organisation in Karlsruhe and neighbouring cities reported on this matter. German newspaper Karlsruhe News reported on the lawsuit against Jiang Zemin on crimes of genocide initiated by training teacher Andre living in Karlsruhe. The report introduced that two years ago, Andre was arrested in Tiananmen square. When he raised a banner, seven policemen immediately held him down on the ground. He was imprisoned in a detention centre in China for many days. He was subsequently released with the help of the German Embassy. Currently, he is using other extraordinary methods to continue his protest. The report also quoted Andre who emphasized that his lawsuit was not aimed at China but at Jiang Zemin himself. He said: “In nearly 5 years, more than 800 people have died from the brutal torture; over 200,000 people were illegally detained. Now is the time to investigate into the crimes committed by Jiang Zemin.”