China's Party Chairman Sued in U.S. for Genocide

PRESS STATEMENT

Tuesday, October 22, 2002

Individual plaintiffs sued Jiang Zemin and the Falun Gong Control Office (A.K.A. Office 6/10) for, among other things, genocide, torture, and freedom of conscience and religion, in the United States District Court of the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division. The Complaint was filed under seal on October 18, 2002, and the defendants were served by alternate service upon security agents designated by the courts as appropriate substitutes for personal service on October 22, 2002.

Defendant Jiang Zemin currently serves as Chairman of the People's Republic of China, as Secretary General of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, and as Chair of the Central Military Committee of the People's Republic of China. He is currently present in the United States and in the state of Illinois, and is expected to leave Chicago, Illinois for Texas where he will be meeting with President Bush. The defendant is subject to a lawsuit under the Alien Tort Claim Act and the Torture Victim's Protection Act, notwithstanding his position in China. The court's jurisdiction over defendant Jiang is authorized and recognized as an exception to the head of state immunity doctrine and to the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act, by incorporation of the principles of the Convention Against Genocide. This Convention excludes from immunity acts of genocide by any and all government officials, including heads of state.

This suit is not against the government of China, nor does it target any legitimate and lawful acts of any of China's officers. The plaintiffs are suing Jiang Zemin for exploiting his official position to commit atrocious human rights violations in direct violation of the values enshrined in the constitutions, international treaties, and laws of all civilized nations today.

The Office 6/10 is also a defendant in this lawsuit. Office 6/10 was established as a subdivision of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party by Defendant Jiang Zemin on June 7, 2002, and officially set up by the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party on June 10, per Jiang's order. Acting under the command and control of Jiang Zemin, the office employs and supervises government officials and other public agencies, such as media communications and law enforcement, to carry out a campaign of murder, torture, terrorism, rape, beatings, and genocide against practitioners of Falun Gong and their families in China. As such, its actions constitute major abuses and violations of a number of international laws and treaties, placing the legal action against Office 6/10 within the provisions of the Alien Tort Claim Act and Torture Victim's Protection Act.

The lawsuit was filed by Attorney Terri E. Marsh, a Washington DC-based human rights attorney and by local counsel, Frederick Rhine, partner of Chicago-based Gessler, Hughes, Socol, Piers, Resnick and Dym Ltd.