Lawsuit Filed against Former Chinese Head of State Jiang Zemin for Wide-Scale Human Rights Crimes Against Falun Gong Practitioners

Human rights lawyer Peter Bergquist and Swedish Dafa practitioners file the lawsuit at Kungsholmsgatan police station in Stockholm.

STOCKHOLM – Human rights lawyer Peter Bergquist, representing the Swedish Falun Dafa Association, filed a lawsuit on Monday 13th June against the former Chinese head of state Jiang Zemin and leaders of the so called “6-10 Office”, Li Lanqing, Luo Gan, Liu Jing, Ding Guangen and others, charging them with participation in crimes of murder and kidnapping of Falun Gong practitioners. The lawsuit was filed at Kungsholmsgatan police station in Stockholm.

Mr. Peter Bergquist, known for his role as legal counsel in the Swedish Dagmar Hagelin case against the Argentine marine lieutenant Alfredo Aztiz, stated in the lawsuit that Jiang Zemin personally ordered the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners, as well as creating the 610 Office to centralise and co-ordinate this persecution of Falun Gong practitioners all over China.

The UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion confirmed the extensive human rights violations in a report dated 15 March 2005. More than 2,500 Falun Gong practitioners have died in imprisonment, several hundred were sentenced to jails terms of over 20 years, a high number of practitioners have been sent to labour camps without trial and others have been falsely interned in mental hospitals.

Mr.Peter Bergquist said these acts of persecutions are actually acts of murder and kidnapping according to the Swedish Law and the Penalty Code, which entitles the Swedish courts to punish the offenders under the doctrines of universal jurisdiction.

A major portion of the crimes described in the lawsuit violated the articles of the UN Convention against Torture, of which both Sweden and China have ratified. In addition, these crimes are in violation of the Chinese Penalty Code, which means that Chinese authorities are required to co-operate in the event of a Swedish criminal investigation and extradition request.

Similar lawsuits against Jiang Zemin and other Chinese officials have been initiated in Germany, France, Finland, Belgium, Holland, Australian, Spain, England, Island, Cyprus, USA, Canada, South Africa, Taiwan, South Korea and other countries.

Mr. Peter Bergquist said that attempts to punish high officials can be gather from the case of the Spanish Prosecutor Baltazar Carcon´s attempt to summon Pinochet. Experiences from that case show that legal actions in other countries can stimulate the judicial process in the homeland. The lawsuits all over the world can hopefully in a longer perspective enhance human rights developments in China.