TORONTO—An Ontario Superior Court judge on Tuesday dismissed a motion put forward by plaintiffs regarding the inapplicability of state immunity for Chinese officials accused of torture.
Judge Pollak was concerned that the issue of immunity would be reexamined at a later trial, and therefore making a ruling now was not efficient in terms of costs.
Matt Eisenbrandt of the Canadian Center for International Justice (CCIJ), believes the judge made more of an “administrative decision” in order not to cause duplication of the court’s resources.
“We’ll get another opportunity hopefully in a few months to make our arguments again,” he said.
The judge caused a stir this morning when she stated her concerns, disallowing interveners on both sides to make their presentations. The CCIJ and the All-China Lawyers Association (ACLA) had been scheduled to speak.
Kate Kempton, lawyer for the plaintiffs—six Falun Gong practitioners who were tortured for their beliefs in China—was surprised by the judge’s decision. Ms. Kempton’s team had spent all yesterday arguing that current state immunity laws do not apply to foreign officials when it comes to torture, saying that torture is an individual act, not a state act.
“We thought that we were well prepared [in arguing] it,” she said.
Ms. Kempton said that a possible next step is to bring forward a new motion that could lead to a trial. “But that would have to include everything that we’ve raised yesterday and today, whether state immunity applies to acts of torture of these defendants.”
The $20 million lawsuit against five high-ranking Chinese Communist officials, including former communist leader Jiang Zemin, was originally filed in November 2004. After the Chinese regime refused to acknowledge the suit, the ACLA filed a motion arguing state immunity in 2007.
Four of the plaintiffs were in the courtroom anxiously awaiting a decision from the judge, which took a few hours after the brief morning discussion. Lizhi He was among them.
Mr. He, an award-winning engineer in China, was sentenced to three and a half years in prison after appealing to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to stop its suppression of Falun Gong. He was detained in a small cell with 25 others, denied showers, and forced to sit in fixed postures for long periods of time. In addition to suffering various ailments due to the poor conditions in the prison, he was tortured repeatedly.
“I almost lost my life,” he told the Canadian Press on Monday.
Falun Gong is a Chinese qigong practice with a spiritual foundation that grew in popularity in the 1990s. Jiang Zemin launched a campaign of persecution against the group 11 years ago after he claimed the practice was a threat to the CCP. The five defendants in the lawsuit are considered by the Falun Gong to be the main instigators of widespread torture and hate crimes against them in China.
Judge Pollak was concerned that the issue of immunity would be reexamined at a later trial, and therefore making a ruling now was not efficient in terms of costs.
Matt Eisenbrandt of the Canadian Center for International Justice (CCIJ), believes the judge made more of an “administrative decision” in order not to cause duplication of the court’s resources.
“We’ll get another opportunity hopefully in a few months to make our arguments again,” he said.
The judge caused a stir this morning when she stated her concerns, disallowing interveners on both sides to make their presentations. The CCIJ and the All-China Lawyers Association (ACLA) had been scheduled to speak.
Kate Kempton, lawyer for the plaintiffs—six Falun Gong practitioners who were tortured for their beliefs in China—was surprised by the judge’s decision. Ms. Kempton’s team had spent all yesterday arguing that current state immunity laws do not apply to foreign officials when it comes to torture, saying that torture is an individual act, not a state act.
“We thought that we were well prepared [in arguing] it,” she said.
Ms. Kempton said that a possible next step is to bring forward a new motion that could lead to a trial. “But that would have to include everything that we’ve raised yesterday and today, whether state immunity applies to acts of torture of these defendants.”
The $20 million lawsuit against five high-ranking Chinese Communist officials, including former communist leader Jiang Zemin, was originally filed in November 2004. After the Chinese regime refused to acknowledge the suit, the ACLA filed a motion arguing state immunity in 2007.
Four of the plaintiffs were in the courtroom anxiously awaiting a decision from the judge, which took a few hours after the brief morning discussion. Lizhi He was among them.
Mr. He, an award-winning engineer in China, was sentenced to three and a half years in prison after appealing to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to stop its suppression of Falun Gong. He was detained in a small cell with 25 others, denied showers, and forced to sit in fixed postures for long periods of time. In addition to suffering various ailments due to the poor conditions in the prison, he was tortured repeatedly.
“I almost lost my life,” he told the Canadian Press on Monday.
Falun Gong is a Chinese qigong practice with a spiritual foundation that grew in popularity in the 1990s. Jiang Zemin launched a campaign of persecution against the group 11 years ago after he claimed the practice was a threat to the CCP. The five defendants in the lawsuit are considered by the Falun Gong to be the main instigators of widespread torture and hate crimes against them in China.
