PRESS RELEASE FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

To: National Desk

Contact: Tao Wang, 202-422-8133

WASHINGTON, March 18 /U.S. Newswire/ -- The United States Supreme Court will decide soon if it hears the case filed against Jiang Zemin, former leader of Chinese Communist Party for crimes of genocide and torture.

Practitioners of Falun Gong filed a class action lawsuit against the former Communist Party Chief, Jiang Zemin, in October 2002. The District Court for the Northern District of Illinois dismissed the case based on a suggestion of immunity filed by the United States' Department of State. This was based more particularly upon their characterization of the defendant as the legitimate ruler of China. The Seventh Circuit Court affirmed the District Court's decision, notwithstanding the fact that Jiang Zemin was never the legitimate ruler of China or the legitimate representative of the Chinese people, and notwithstanding the defendant's loss of his party (and other) status shortly after the case was filed.

The policy upon which the Department of State based their opposition to this lawsuit is fast fading from the American stage. Despotism, as noted by Mark Palmer, former Ambassador to Hungary, is a breeding ground of and for the kind of terrorism the U.S. experienced on Sept. 11, 2001. It is a recipe for disaster. The Declaration of Independence reminds us that all persons are "endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights." These rights include the right to govern oneself and to follow one's spiritual faith and practice freely.

According to the attorney who filed the case, "the defendant will go down in history as one of the unscrupulous despots of the twentieth century, a man who tortured and murdered thousands upon thousands of practitioners of Falun Gong, a practice based on the moral and spiritual principles of truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance. It is in the vital interests of the United States to bring the defendant to justice. The dismissal of this case undermines not only the entire framework of Nuremberg, but also the very principles upon which our nation was founded. Moreover the Seventh Circuit's opinion stands alone among the circuits in holding that a (legitimate or illegitimate) former leader's crimes of genocide and torture can be considered protected and immune."

Lawyers from more than thirty nations have filed cases against the defendant for genocide and torture, and other crimes against humanity. The U.S. case is now before the Supreme Court.

For further information, visit http://flgjustice.org/usa/jiang/.

http://releases.usnewswire.com/GetRelease.asp?id=44575