Association for Endangered Peoples Files Criminal Law Suit Against China’s President

ASSOCIATION FOR ENDANGERED PEOPLES – PRESS RELEASE

Goettingen/Karlsruhe, April 8, 2002

Jiang Zemin Expected in Berlin

Association for Endangered Peoples files criminal law suit against China’s President

The Association for Endangered Peoples (GfbV) filed a criminal lawsuit with the Federal Prosecutor in Karlsruhe/Germany against Chinese President Jiang Zemin on Monday.

This international human rights organization accuses this politician of committing four cases of bodily harm with intent to kill, as well as accuses him of grave bodily injuries, abridging personal freedom and rape in three other cases. The seven-page indictment describes shocking cases of torture against members of the Falun Gong movement, Tibetans and Uigurs. These three groups of people were severely and brutally abused while in police custody. In this group of seven people mentioned in the indictment, four died as a result of torture while incarcerated, two sustained permanent, disabling bodily injuries. Although China had ratified and was a signatory on an October 4, 1998 issued document to guard against torture and other cruel and inhumane punishment, “the Chinese authorities’ abuse of this agreement is consistently carried out and condoned by people in power,” so stated Mr. Tilman Zuelch, Secretary General of the GfbV.(Gesellschaft fuer bedrohte Voelker)[Association of Endangered Peoples] most critically. “We expect of the Federal Prosecutor to take this case seriously. The anti-torture agreement between different nations is valid. When is has been breached, then we must apply German law in Germany, independent of the nationality of the perpetrators and the victims.” [Since Mr. Jiang Zemin is on German soil, German law applies]. Jiang Zemin is slated to begin his six-day state visit to Germany on Monday.

“Jiang Zemin cannot claim immunity by reason of his position as head of state. If one takes into the considerations the United Nations’ decision following the war crime tribunal hearings for the former Jugoslavia,” said Mr. Zuelch, “it becomes clear that individuals can no longer claim immunity or deny responsibility in the international community for crimes committed against people’s human rights.” Additionally, it has become common knowledge that world law and principles prevail in cases of torture.
The judgment rendered by the World Court in the Hague the middle of February, 2002, to rescind the arrest order for The Congo’s former foreign minister, and the promise to give him immunity, is hotly debated among world human rights experts and could mean a grave step backward for human rights, should German courts make use of this option.

Prisoners in Chinese police detention, prisons, jails and Forced Labor Camps are tortured to obtain confessions, to humiliate the victims and as a long-range goal, to damage their heath. Personnel in these facilities are immune from persecution, so states the lawsuit by GfbV. “Among prisoners of conscience, the death toll from torture is especially high in the ranks of Falun Gong practitioners, Uigurs and Tibetans,” said Mr. Zuelch. Since the movement had been banned in 1999, at least 170 Falun Gong practitioners have died while in police custody or in Forced Labor Camps. At least half of these deaths occurred within the first 24 hours of incarceration. Since 1997, over 280 Uigurs have undergone swift sentencing and have been executed. Most of their “confessions” were obtained under torture.

Since 1993, the United Nations Committee Against Torture has continually warned the Chinese government about their use of torture, which is contrary to the agreement they signed. In September 2000, the National People’s Congress ordered an independent study researching torture cases in six Chinese provinces. This study documented 221 cases of confessions obtained by use of torture. In 21 of those cases, these torture victims have died as a result of mistreatment.

(Original text in German)