There Is No Excuse for Letting Genocide Evade International Trials

On June 6th, 2006, the Supreme Court of Spain accepted a lawsuit filed by multiple Falun Gong practitioners, charging Chinese official Jia Qinglin with genocide, and determined that the Audencia Nacional, a high court of Spain, may investigate and proceed with the case.

On June 13th, when asked by a reporter, Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Jiang Yu called the lawsuit "a smear campaign" and "politically motivated." Jiang said that international laws and international relations protocols suggest that Spain has no right to accept or investigate such a case. Jiang also said that such a lawsuit may jeopardise the relationship between China and Spain, and that "the Spanish government should handle it appropriately."

The Chinese government's spokespersons words actually show that the Falun Gong practitioners' lawsuit has a legal basis. The Spanish court will determine whether the case was "a smear campaign" and "slander." If the Chinese government did not have anything to hide, why would it try to stop the Spanish court from accepting and proceeding with the case?

The Chinese government spokespersons seemingly stern "warning" is an attempt to impose the Chinese-style dictatorship on a Western democratic country. When the Supreme Court of Spain first considered the case, the Chinese Communist regime resisted in a similar fashion, requesting the government of Spain to interfere. The Vice Premier of Spain was clear in responding that Spain is a democratic country with an independent judicial branch; the government has no right to interfere with judicial decisions.

The other reason the Chinese government gave to dissuade the Supreme Court of Spain from accepting the case was international laws and international relations protocols. This was even more ludicrous. In fact, it was based on international judicial principles that Spain accepted the case. According to Australian-based The Advertiser on June 7th, the Audencia Nacional once rejected the case on grounds that it had not been established that Jia Qinglin was in Spain. However, the Supreme Court determined that the case was actually under the jurisdiction of Spanish courts, as in October of 2005 Spain agreed to the principles of universal competence, meaning that Spanish courts are competent to accept lawsuits on genocide and crimes against humanity, regardless of the location of the crime and the nationality of the defendant.

Those who commit crimes against humanity threaten the entire human race and civilisation. Every country has the right and responsibility to try them. This is a widely recognised principle. In the last seven years, who has been trampling upon international laws, using government organs and resources to commit genocide against humanity and moral standards?

Human rights lawyer Carlos Iglesias, who represents Falun Gong practitioners in this lawsuit, said, "Since China does not have an independent judicial system, the Chinese government will prevent all lawsuits against the criminals within the government system. We cannot bring these people to justice without using international judiciaries."

Iglesias said that in July of 1999, former Chinese Chairman Jiang Zemin ordered to suppress and exterminate millions of Falun Gong practitioners, and especially formed the 610 Office to persecute Falun Gong. Jia Qinglin was one of the people directly involved. The function of the 610 Office is similar to that of Nazi Germany; its ultimate goal is to eliminate Falun Gong, a faith-based group consisting of over 100 million innocent people. The sheer number of 100 million was absolutely unacceptable to the dictatorship of the Chinese Communist Party. Conservative estimates put the number of Falun Gong practitioner detainees in labour camps at 2 million. Over 2,000 people have died from the persecution, including the elderly, women, and children. He said this persecution could be considered the biggest genocide in recent history.

Since March of 2006, witnesses and sources have confirmed that in China, the Chinese Communist regime uses labour camps and 36 secret concentration camps to harvest organs from living Falun Gong practitioners to make profits. The bodies were then destroyed to eliminate evidence.

Recently, the United Nations asked the Chinese government to stop the groundless detention of Ms. Qiu Minghua. This shows that the Chinese government's persecution of Falun Gong is illegal and is trampling human rights. Based on international laws, the United Nations Arbitrary Arrest Working Group considered the detention of Falun Gong practitioners "arbitrary," "being in contravention of article 9 and article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights" and requested that the Chinese government "take necessary steps to remedy the situation of Ms. Qiu." (http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2006/6/13/74404.html)

Let's conclude with a quote from the attorney of the plaintiffs. Iglesias said, "Undoubtedly, this is a great leap forward for the international judicial organisations. It is also a victory for the victims of the dreadful genocide. This historic step has an extremely important purpose for terminating the horrible crimes committed with sanction from the Chinese Communist Party." Iglesias said, "I hope this is the beginning of the end to this genocide. All the perpetrators shall undoubtedly face justice under international laws."