AFP Report: British Falun Gong supporters seek arrest of Chinese minister

The Falun Gong religious movement said it was taking legal action in Britain to have visiting Chinese trade minister Bo Xilai arrested for allegedly torturing its members.

The case against Bo, who is accompanying Chinese President Hu Jintao on a state visit to Britain, was being filed Tuesday with the Bow Street Magistrates Court in London, the group said.

The application for an arrest warrant relates to Bo's time as governor of Liaoning province, northeast China, and his alleged promotion of the torture and ill-treatment of Falun Gong practitioners.

Dee Ling, from the Falun Gong Association in Britain, told AFP: "We're applying for an arrest warrant for a criminal lawsuit against him for crimes of torture.

"He was actively involved in persecuting Falun Gong members, who were put in prison and many of whom were tortured to death," she alleged.

Dee said the case -- due to be heard by magistrates in central London later Tuesday -- was the second time the association had applied for an arrest warrant against Bo in Britain.

A file was passed to London's Metropolitan Police in May 2004 but the force did not proceed, citing Bo's diplomatic immunity.

Helen Chantry, a fellow association member, said: "We expect that our case will be given full consideration and that despite the fact this man (Bo) might claim diplomatic immunity... that shouldn't be a shield behind which these people can hide."

The Falun Gong movement -- also known as Falun Dafa -- is a traditional Chinese spiritual discipline for the mind and body, according to its British website.

It claims 100 million followers throughout the world but has been outlawed in China since the time of the previous president Jiang Zemin.

Supporters claim Beijing proscribed the organisation -- and illegally detained thousands of its followers -- because its members exceeded those of the ruling Communist Party.

Many of its British members were among the hundreds of protesters outside Queen Elizabeth II's official London residence, Buckingham Palace, to show their disapproval of Hu's visit to the British capital.