Australia: Sydney High Court Holds a Hearing on Falun Gong's Lawsuit against Bo Xilai

On April 10th, 2006, the Sydney High Court held the first hearing regarding the lawsuit submitted by Falun Gong practitioner Pan Yu against current Chinese Commerce Minister Bo Xilai for torture and genocide. The judge listened to the plaintiff's presentation, and accepted the evidence in the complaint that had been delivered to the defendant, and granted the plaintiff's request to further add to the materials. The judge also announced that the next hearing would be on June 26th, 2006, and would inform the defendant to appear at court to respond to the suit at that time, otherwise, the case would be handled by default.

Defendant Bo Xilai has been actively following Jiang's regime to persecute Falun Gong practitioners since July 20th, 1999. When he was the mayor of Dalian City, deputy secretary of Liaoning Provincial Party committee and governor of Liaoning Province, he participated in the brutal persecution of Falun Gong and Dalian became the one of the cities where the persecution was the most severe. When he was governor of Liaoning Province from January 2001 to February 2004, Bo Xilai actively planned and built large prison facilities and carried out the most cruel and ruthless persecution of Falun Gong practitioners. The recently-disclosed secret concentration camp in the Sujiatun District, Shenyang City, Liaoning Province held about 6,000 Falun Gong practitioners at a time. Witnesses revealed that Falun Gong practitioners have had their organs harvested while still alive and their murdered bodies cremated immediately to destroy the evidence. Bo Xilai cannot shirk the responsibility for the atrocities. [Editor's note: All practitioners who were detained at the camp have now been relocated to undisclosed locations thus removing all evidence of atrocities at the camp.]

Plaintiff Pan Yu expressed that among forced labour camps, prisons and concentration camps across China where Falun Gong practitioners have been locked up and persecuted, the most villainous and barbaric are Masanjia Forced Labour Camp in Liaoning Province, Dabei Prison in Shenyang City, Longshan Forced Labour Camp in Shenyang City, Zhangshi Forced Labour Camp and the secret Sujiatun Concentration Camp, which are all in Liaoning Province. Bo Xilai was the governor of Liaoning Province during the period of 2001-2003 when the persecution of Falun Gong was the most severe. His hands have been stained with the blood of Falun Gong practitioners, and we will definitely bring him to justice.

Bo Xilai has committed monstrous crimes and is unable to escape being sued by Falun Gong practitioners no matter where he goes. He has been sued in the U.S., the U.K., Russia and Australia.