A Canadian expert on Chinese law is among those lauding the decision by a judge in Argentina who recently ordered the arrest of China’s former leader and another top official for crimes against humanity in the long-running persecution of the Falun Gong spiritual discipline.
Argentine Judge Octavio Araoz de Lamadrid’s call for an Interpol arrest warrant for Jiang Zemin and Luo Gan comes on the heels of a similar case in Spain in which five high-ranking Chinese officials have been indicted for genocide and torture of Falun Gong practitioners in China.
Vancouver Island-based Clive Ansley was a lawyer in Asia for 19 years, during which time he practised and taught law in China. He has studied the developments of China’s legal system since the late 1970s and is China monitor for Lawyers’ Rights Watch Canada.
Ansley said developments such as those in Argentina and Spain are possible thanks to a U.N. treaty that allows crimes against humanity to be prosecuted in any country.
“The international community said crimes against humanity and war crimes, those two things, do not require that the crime be committed within the jurisdiction of the court hearing it.... It’s a recognition that there’s no possibility of getting any justice in the country where the crimes were committed.”
Ansley noted that a similar judgement has been issued in Taiwan as well as in some other jurisdictions.
“I think the important thing is that courts in more and more countries with legitimate court systems will be handing down these kinds of judgments,” said Ansley, who has served as a legal counsel for Falun Gong practitioners in Canada.
Falun Gong originated in China in 1992. Since 1999, its believers have been persecuted in China by the ruling communist party, which is officially atheist.
Accounts of repression against Falun Gong have featured prominently in reports on human rights in China by U.N. rapporteurs, foreign governments, and human rights groups.
Reportedly half or more of China’s large forced-labour camp population is comprised of Falun Gong practitioners, and thousands of adherents have been tortured to death in custody.
An investigation by two prominent Canadian human-rights lawyers concluded that Falun Gong practitioners were being systematically killed for their organs.
Argentine Judge Octavio Araoz de Lamadrid’s call for an Interpol arrest warrant for Jiang Zemin and Luo Gan comes on the heels of a similar case in Spain in which five high-ranking Chinese officials have been indicted for genocide and torture of Falun Gong practitioners in China.
Vancouver Island-based Clive Ansley was a lawyer in Asia for 19 years, during which time he practised and taught law in China. He has studied the developments of China’s legal system since the late 1970s and is China monitor for Lawyers’ Rights Watch Canada.
Ansley said developments such as those in Argentina and Spain are possible thanks to a U.N. treaty that allows crimes against humanity to be prosecuted in any country.
“The international community said crimes against humanity and war crimes, those two things, do not require that the crime be committed within the jurisdiction of the court hearing it.... It’s a recognition that there’s no possibility of getting any justice in the country where the crimes were committed.”
Ansley noted that a similar judgement has been issued in Taiwan as well as in some other jurisdictions.
“I think the important thing is that courts in more and more countries with legitimate court systems will be handing down these kinds of judgments,” said Ansley, who has served as a legal counsel for Falun Gong practitioners in Canada.
Falun Gong originated in China in 1992. Since 1999, its believers have been persecuted in China by the ruling communist party, which is officially atheist.
Accounts of repression against Falun Gong have featured prominently in reports on human rights in China by U.N. rapporteurs, foreign governments, and human rights groups.
Reportedly half or more of China’s large forced-labour camp population is comprised of Falun Gong practitioners, and thousands of adherents have been tortured to death in custody.
An investigation by two prominent Canadian human-rights lawyers concluded that Falun Gong practitioners were being systematically killed for their organs.
Ansley said the “so-called law that they prosecute Falun Gong under [in China] is, from the point of view of any jurist, anyone with legal training, just nonsensical.”
On Dec. 17, Judge Lamadrid called on Interpol to arrest Jiang Zemin, former communist party leader, and Luo Gan, former Chinese security chief, for their roles in leading the persecution campaign.
Song Xiangxian, a democracy activist in China’s Hubei province, believes the legal actions undertaken in Argentina and Spain place the two countries at the forefront of civil rights history.
“The actions of Jiang Zemin and Luo Gan do not simply harm the Falun Gong community, but they plunder and encroach upon all of civilized humanity. Their crimes must be met with a corresponding punishment,” he said.
Lamadrid made his ruling after a four-year investigation into charges of torture and genocide against Falun Gong.
In his final conclusion, the judge said that the “genocidal strategy ... comprised a broad range of actions arranged in total contempt for life and human dignity. The designated purpose—the eradication of Falun Gong—was used to justify any means used. Therefore, torment, torture, disappearances, deaths, brainwashing, psychological torture were everyday occurrences in the persecution of its practitioners.”
The Falun Dafa Information Center has criticized some of the media coverage of the Argentine case, saying some reports overlooked the evidence and the judge’s conclusion “while vilifying and inaccurate Chinese Communist Party propaganda has been given significant attention.”
FDI pointed out that Falun Gong practitioners have not filed this and other lawsuits “as a political or public relations effort to make the Chinese authorities lose face. The suffering that is happening in China is very real, well-documented, and ensconced in a climate of impunity. The use of universal jurisdiction to file overseas lawsuits is a last resort. Falun Gong practitioners who tried suing Jiang inside China were themselves arrested, imprisoned, and tortured.”
Chen Defu, a democracy activist who has been following international lawsuits against Jiang Zemin for several years, thinks the Spanish and Argentine decisions symbolize support for civil movements and are a reprimand against the trampling of human rights in China.
“This arrest warrant is a warning to high ranking Chinese Communist Party officials, warning them to not persecute Falun Gong practitioners and democracy activists. I think this is very good, very good. Now everyone is talking about this, so it is a form of encouragement for the disadvantaged groups being suppressed inside China.”
[xtypo_info]New Tang Dynasty Television reports on the arrest warrant issued in Argentina for top Chinese officials. (NTDTV)[/xtypo_info]
On Dec. 17, Judge Lamadrid called on Interpol to arrest Jiang Zemin, former communist party leader, and Luo Gan, former Chinese security chief, for their roles in leading the persecution campaign.
Song Xiangxian, a democracy activist in China’s Hubei province, believes the legal actions undertaken in Argentina and Spain place the two countries at the forefront of civil rights history.
“The actions of Jiang Zemin and Luo Gan do not simply harm the Falun Gong community, but they plunder and encroach upon all of civilized humanity. Their crimes must be met with a corresponding punishment,” he said.
Lamadrid made his ruling after a four-year investigation into charges of torture and genocide against Falun Gong.
In his final conclusion, the judge said that the “genocidal strategy ... comprised a broad range of actions arranged in total contempt for life and human dignity. The designated purpose—the eradication of Falun Gong—was used to justify any means used. Therefore, torment, torture, disappearances, deaths, brainwashing, psychological torture were everyday occurrences in the persecution of its practitioners.”
The Falun Dafa Information Center has criticized some of the media coverage of the Argentine case, saying some reports overlooked the evidence and the judge’s conclusion “while vilifying and inaccurate Chinese Communist Party propaganda has been given significant attention.”
FDI pointed out that Falun Gong practitioners have not filed this and other lawsuits “as a political or public relations effort to make the Chinese authorities lose face. The suffering that is happening in China is very real, well-documented, and ensconced in a climate of impunity. The use of universal jurisdiction to file overseas lawsuits is a last resort. Falun Gong practitioners who tried suing Jiang inside China were themselves arrested, imprisoned, and tortured.”
Chen Defu, a democracy activist who has been following international lawsuits against Jiang Zemin for several years, thinks the Spanish and Argentine decisions symbolize support for civil movements and are a reprimand against the trampling of human rights in China.
“This arrest warrant is a warning to high ranking Chinese Communist Party officials, warning them to not persecute Falun Gong practitioners and democracy activists. I think this is very good, very good. Now everyone is talking about this, so it is a form of encouragement for the disadvantaged groups being suppressed inside China.”
[xtypo_info]New Tang Dynasty Television reports on the arrest warrant issued in Argentina for top Chinese officials. (NTDTV)[/xtypo_info]
