United States: Court Affirms That Beijing Party Secretary Liu Qi Is Liable for Crimes of Torture

December 18th, 2004

After a one year wait, on December 8th 2004, Judge Wilkin of United States District Court Northern District of California affirmed a magistrate's ruling that Beijing Communist Party Secretary Liu Qi is liable for the torture and crimes against humanity of the police under his administration during the persecution of Falun Gong.

One of the six plaintiffs, Leeshai Lemish, a student in Pomona College in California, was interviewed by New Tang Dynasty TV.

On December 13th, Falun Gong practitioners held a press conference in front of Chinese Consulate in Los Angeles to announce the news.

A practitioner in Los Angeles said that the civil lawsuit was filed in 2002 by two Chinese citizens, two Swiss citizens, one French and one American based on the Alien Torture Claims Act and Torture Victim Protection Act. The six plaintiffs were beaten brutally and tortured in Beijing, including Leeshai Lemish, who was arrested and beaten brutally for appealing on Tiananmen Square in Beijing in 2001 for Falun Gong.

Liu Qi was Mayor of Beijing and received the subpoena in San Francisco on his way to Salt Lake to attend the Winter Olympics there as director of Chinese Olympic team. He was charged for crimes of torture, other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, arbitrary detention, crimes against humanity, and interference with freedom of religion and belief.

The Centre for Justice and Accountability (CJA) in San Francisco and Ms. Terri Marsh, an independent human rights lawyer, represented the plaintiffs and filed the lawsuit. CJA is a human rights organisation to help victims of human rights violations abroad.

On June 11th, 2003, a Magistrate found that Liu was guilty and not entitled to a foreign official's immunity and sent his recommendation to District Court. On December 8th, 2004, the district judge adopted the magistrate's recommendations that Liu was guilty.

Since Zhao Zhifei, Vice Director of Public Security Bureau, Hubei Province, was found liable for persecution of Falun Gong by a US Federal Court, Chinese high-rank officials have been involved in four civil lawsuits filed by Falun Gong practitioners. The former Communist Party Secretary, Jiang Zemin, who initiated the persecution, has been sued in many countries. Practitioners' legal efforts to safeguard basic rights and stop the persecution are receiving attention around the world.

According to the Epoch Times, at the press conference on December 13th, Associate Professor Wu Yingnian of the Department of Statistics, University of California in Los Angeles said that the lawsuit was one of 47 filed in 28 countries. More lawsuits will be conducted, possibly in China.

Mr. Leeshai Lemish said that the court ruling was encouraging and provided a good reference for suing Chinese Communist officials involved in the persecution of Falun Gong. Though the judge faced pressure from the Chinese regime, he made a ruling based on the facts. It sent an important message to China: those persecuting Falun Gong will be brought to justice.

Mr. Lemish said that some officials in the Chinese government violate China's law to persecute innocent people. They must be punished according to international law. They must be held liable for what they have done.