Ottawa Citizen Report: Falun Gong Practitioner Asks Canada's Justice Minister to Allow Chinese Officials to be Prosecuted

As reported in a March 15, 2004 Ottawa Citizen article by Greg McArthur entitled, "Falun Gong practitioner takes fight to Cotler: Wants justice minister to allow Chinese officials to be tried"

An Ottawa man who says he was tortured while he was jailed in China for six months for practising Falun Gong is urging Canada's justice minister to set a legal precedent and consent to the private prosecution of 45 Chinese police officers and government officials -- including former president Jiang Zemin.

Kunlun Zhang, a Canadian citizen and sculptor who was detained in Chinese labour camps in 2001, is asking Justice Minister Irwin Cotler to allow him to use an antiquated part of the Criminal Code so he can face his alleged torturers in a Canadian courtroom.

Mr. Zhang is asking Mr. Cotler to permit Ottawa criminal lawyer Lawrence Greenspon and Winnipeg-based international law expert David Matas to act as private prosecutors. If granted, the lawyers could seek an arrest warrant for the Chinese authorities who allegedly tried to brainwash Mr. Zhang.

Even though the alleged torture took place in China, the code permits the prosecution of the officials because Mr. Zhang is a Canadian citizen.

If Mr. Cotler consents, the lawyers will work to extradite the alleged torturers -- some of whose names Mr. Zhang recorded while he was jailed.

"It is very difficult to live this again," he said through an interpreter last night.

"For Falun Gong practitioners, China is like a big jail. There is so much severe torture against Falun Gong practitioners and none of these people have the opportunity to have justice. As a Canadian citizen living in a free country, I have the opportunity."

No one from Mr. Cotler's office was available for comment last night.

Because no attorney general has been asked to consent to such a prosecution, it's difficult to know how the case will unfold, Mr. Matas said.

Extraditing or arresting the suspects will be difficult, Mr. Matas acknowledged, but the government's approval of the prosecution is symbolically important.

The cases of Canadians such as William Sampson, Maher Arar and Zahra Kazemi show that the Canadian government has to be proactive, he said.

"Torture used to be something that Canadians thought happened to other people," Mr. Matas said.

Under Mr. Zemin [1], the government outlawed Falun Gong, a spiritual movement that revolves around meditation, in 1999.

1. note: should be Jiang, Zemin is Jiang Zemin's first name