By Dafa practitioner Zhang Cuiying
(Clearwisdom.net) With the help of world-renowned lawyer and human rights campaigner Geoffrey Robertson, QC, I am filing a lawsuit with the United Nations against Jiang Zemin, the former Chinese leader. Recently, during interviews with the Sound of Hope Radio Network and NTDTV [New Tang Dynasty TV] I have been asked the question why I want to file this lawsuit against Jiang Zemin with the United Nations. My intention is very clear: to bring Jiang Zemin, the chief director and leading player in the vicious persecution of millions of Falun Gong practitioners in China, to justice through the rule of law, and to end this catastrophe in China that is totally based on falsehood! It has flagrantly damaged the fundamental morality of human beings.
This persecution against Falun Gong has been going on for more than four years, since July 20, 1999. During this period, merely because they persist in their belief in "Truthfulness-Compassion-Tolerance," the principle of Falun Gong, how many kind and innocent people have been detained, put into prisons, forced labor camps, forced to undergo brainwashing, tormented, brutally tortured and even killed? How many happy families have been broken up? How many family members have become separated or even lost forever? How many precious Chinese people's minds have been poisoned and deceived by the so-called "evidence" made through lies and fabrications by Jiang's regime against Falun Gong? How many have to speak against their own conscience? How many police officers and prison guards have committed unforgivable crimes under Jiang's vicious order, "the deaths of Falun Gong practitioners from beating is nothing and shall be counted as suicide; the body shall be directly cremated without investigating the person's identity."
Jiang Zemin's persecution of Falun Gong has also been extended outside of China. He has dispatched a number of agents to harass, threaten or even attack Falun Gong practitioners overseas. Some of these infiltrators have been arrested by local police forces. During an international conference, Jiang Zemin even distributed to the state leaders from different countries propaganda materials riddled with lies used in his persecution of Falun Gong and attempted to deceive and poison the minds of people around the world. His behavior shocked the conference attendees and brought shame upon himself as well.
The Jiang regime is not only brutally persecuting practitioners in China but also extending its persecution to the citizens of other countries. One example of this is American citizen Charles Li, who is still detained in a Chinese prison.
When I visited China, just because I wanted to say a just word for Falun Dafa to the Chinese government and to defend Falun Dafa, I was put into four different jails and detained for as long as eight months.
I suffered all kinds of brutal torture. I was beaten so often that bruises covered my entire body and the pain made me unable to sleep. I was forced to sleep on the concrete floor in the cold winter. The toilet was just in front of my head. In order to further torment me, they forced me to share the same cell with a mental patient. At the same time, like other people detained there, I was forced to work more than ten hours every day, seven days a week, without a single day of rest. For over seven months, I was detained in a dark and damp prison cell full of filthy air and was not allowed to go outside for fresh air. Such inhuman treatment caused the skin to rot and fester all over my body. When they still couldn't make me give up my belief in Falun Dafa, they put me into the prison building for males, to further torture me, both mentally and physically.
Martin Luther King, Jr., the famous leader of the Civil Rights Movement in America, has said, "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere." ("Letter From a Birmingham Jail") This persecution brought on by Jiang Zemin against the kind people who conduct themselves according to the principles of "Truthfulness-Compassion-Tolerance" is also a persecution against people all over the world who love peace, advocate justice and righteousness and abide by sincerity and faith. It is definitely not "an internal issue of China," but a crucial matter affecting the interests of all people.
The United Nations is an international organization that is intended to protect human rights and to protect world peace. China is one of its members. Jiang Zemin's atrocities have severely violated the charter of the United Nations. Therefore, I am filing a lawsuit with the United Nations, for the whole world to try him.
I am very glad to gain the support and help from the world-renowned lawyer and human rights campaigner Sir Geoffrey Robertson, QC. I'm very thankful for him to take time from his busy schedule to fly to Australia from the UK, to meet with me and discuss these issues. When we met each other he immediately told me, "I have read your story. You have committed yourself to truth and suffered a lot. It's really great." He also told me that whenever he visited the Chinese embassies or consulates and saw Falun Gong practitioners calmly sitting there peacefully protesting, he was always deeply moved. He said the Falun Gong practitioners were truly amazing. He also said that many important public figures often visited Chinese embassies. When they saw the peaceful appeal of Falun Gong practitioners, they would think about the human rights violations in China and would try to help solve the problems there. He said that he was very happy to help us with the lawsuit against Jiang Zemin at the United Nations.
I truly believe that righteousness will defeat evil and that Jiang Zemin will be tried before the kind people in the world.
August 16, 2003
