Epoch Times Australian Staff

Feb 02, 2006

An Australian resident has taken her next step in a lawsuit against a high level member of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) for the crimes of torture and genocide.

Sydney resident and Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Yan Xie, 37, attended the first directions hearing held at Supreme Court of NSW on Wednesday February 1 for her lawsuit against Zhang Dejiang, Secretary of the CCP of Guangdong Province.

Outside the court Ms. Yan told The Epoch Times there are no legal means for Falun Gong practitioners inside mainland China to end the persecution and that Chinese lawyers seeking to act on behalf of Falun Gong practitioners themselves also become victims of the persecution.

"Now we have a chance and today is the first chance... I hope our action can let the criminals know that they will be brought to justice and help [stop] the persecution immediately," said Ms. Yan.

Addressing a press conference outside the Supreme Court was Jonathon Solomon from the World Organization to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong (WOIPFG) who gave details about the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners in China.

"Guangdong Province in China is one of the provinces where the persecution is most severe," he said.

It was in this province that Ms. Yan was sent to a forced-labour camp for over two years for her belief in Falun Gong and for her attempts to reveal the severity of the persecution. In the labour camp she and other practitioners were forced to work 16 hours per day, were tortured and were subjected to mental brainwashing.

Among the tortures experienced by Ms. Yan were being shackled for varying periods of time where she was handcuffed to the bars of a window at such a height as to enable her to just touch the ground. In this way, she was forced to either take her weight on tiptoes or hang by her wrists. She was subjected to this type of torture for a period of five days, comprising of an initial period of 48 hours continuous suspension and then for 18 hours a day for the remaining three days. Other types of torture included being bound by ropes for extensive periods, forced feeding and mental brain washing.

"My friend, she was [three months] pregnant, she was tortured to death because she insisted in her belief in Falun Gong," said Ms. Yan.

It was in November 8 of last year that the CCP official Zhang Dejiang was served with a summons on behalf of Ms. Yan while he was attending the China Guangdong - Australia Business Conference 2005 at the Hilton Hotel, Sydney. On the same day Ms Yan also made a complaint about Mr Zhang to the Australian Federal Police.

Falun Gong spokesperson Kay Rubacek told the press conference that; "Australia has a well-defined national legislative framework of enforcing Australia's obligations to the UN Convention Against Torture through the Crimes (Torture) Act 1988. Such legal actions are a peaceful means to bring an end to the persecution in China and bring justice to the victims and their families."

"In a similar action taken in the U.S. in 2002, former Mayor of Beijing, Liu Qi, was sued for genocide and crimes against humanity in relation to the persecution of Falun Gong in China. Although he fled the country after the Court Summons, a default verdict found him guilty."

Ms. Rubacek said Falun Gong is a spiritual practice consisting of five simple exercises and the following of the three principles of Truthfulness, Compassion and Forbearance. She said it was released to the general public in China in 1992 and is now being practiced in over 60 countries. In 1999 the Chinese communist regime began the persecution against millions Falun Gong practitioners inside China while also spreading propaganda overseas to defame the practice.

"[During] for those almost seven years, harassment and hatred of Falun Gong practitioners have been spread by overseas mouthpieces of the Chinese Communist Party, the Chinese embassies and consulates throughout the world," she said.

Ms. Rubacek said there are 61 legal actions related to the persecution of Falun Gong taking place around the globe with four currently in courts in Australia.

"Practitioners after years of persecution and harassment were filing the lawsuits as a last resort," she said.

Through assessing facts and evidence that are the basis of a legal case, Ms Rubachek said people would be able to "see through propaganda that has been spread so widely throughout the world by the Chinese communist regime."

Ms. Yan will return to the NSW Supreme Court in June for the second directions hearing. Zhang Dejiang had 28 days to reply to the summons served to him last November for which he failed to do. He may have a default judgment made against him.

Source http://www.theepochtimes.com/news/6-2-2/37673.html