【大纪元6月17日讯】大纪元澳洲记者曾妮报导/6月15日下午一点，澳大利亚维多利亚省法轮大法学会在中国驻墨尔本总领事馆前举行了新闻发布会，公布江泽民在美国被起诉一案最新进展，表达对诉江案的支持。三十多名法轮功学员及太阳先锋报（Herald Sun）、大纪元时报、新唐人电视台、希望之声电台等媒体冒雨参加了新闻发布会。(大纪元陈明摄影)
维省法轮大法学会发言人史密斯博士（Dr. Michael Smith）宣读了一份媒体声明。声明说：“八名法轮功学员代表他们个人和所有被迫害的法轮功学员于2002年10月以反人类罪、酷刑罪、滥用刑律致人死命罪及群体灭绝罪等起诉江泽民及610办公室。这项诉讼案集中体现了法轮功学员在中国所受到的系统性的迫害。国际反群体灭绝罪公约规定，犯有群体灭绝罪的国家领导不能享有元首豁免权，而且江泽民也已经不再是国家元首，因此诉讼案被送上法庭之后，原告对于江XX便有了法律上的权限。
“中国于1983年4月18日签署了反群体灭绝罪公约。作为公约的签约国，它应该遵守公约的准则。但是，它的前国家主席、610办公室和其他一些政府和中共高官在对法轮功的镇压和迫害中所犯的罪行严重地违反了该项公约，已经构成了群体灭绝的罪行。
“江氏政权还利用全国的宣传工具和全世界的大使馆、领事馆系统地发起反法轮功宣传。学校、工作单位、政府机构以及中国国内外几乎所有的中国公民都因为害怕被报复而在事实上加入到了这场运动之中。法轮功学员不能上学、工作或过一份正常的生活。无数的家庭被拆散，无数人为躲避迫害而陷于无家可归的境地。数以千万计的法轮功学员不能正常地生活。这完全符合国际刑事法庭对于“群体灭绝罪”的第三项定义。”
声明宣读前后，记者及摄影师还冒雨对几名法轮功学员进行了单独采访和拍摄。一名来自中国的法轮功学员说，她在中国的时候曾经被非法关押一年多。不仅法轮功学员受迫害，连家人、亲属、朋友甚至同事领导都有可能受牵连。这场迫害的规模在世界及中国历史上都空前的，完全符合“群体灭绝”的定义。这样的罪行在二十一世纪的今天必须得到制止。
附：媒体声明原文
PRESS STATEMENT
15th June, 2003
In dictionaries, the term “genocide” is defined as the deliberate and systematic destruction of a racial, political, cultural or religious group. The classic example would be Hitler’s attempt to exterminate the Jewish race during World War II.
.As defined by the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court:
” ‘Genocide’ means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such: a) Killing members of the group; b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group; e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.”
The lawsuit against Jiang Zemin and the 610 Office was filed in October of 2002, by seven named Falun Gong practitioners, on behalf of themselves and on behalf of all persecuted practitioners, for crimes against humanity, torture, improper execution and death, and genocide. The lawsuit encapsulates the systematic persecution of all persons who embrace the spiritual tenets of Falun Gong in China. When the case was filed The Plaintiffs had jurisdiction over Jiang Zemin, notwithstanding his status as head of state, because international law, and especially the Convention Against Genocide, does not grant heads of state immunity from those acts that constitute genocide. Moreover, Jiang Zemin is no longer head of state.
The People’s Republic of China ratified the Genocide Convention on April 18, 1983. As a signatory to the Convention, they are obliged to abide by its tenets. Notwithstanding their ratification of the Genocide Convention, their former President, the 610 Office and other high ranking government and Communist party officials have committed acts of genocide and substantial violations of the Convention in connection with the campaign of persecution and repression they have waged against practitioners of Falun Gong since 1999.
Verified deaths in custody now stand at over 720, with the actual figure almost certainly in the thousands. China’s media and Internet blockade makes it extremely difficult to obtain accurate figures. Brutal torture is also commonplace, including subjecting practitioners to prolonged and severe beatings, electric shocks, water dungeons and sleep deprivation, branding and burning, exposure to extreme heat and cold for long periods of time, as well as forcing them to perform heavy physical labour while seriously weakened and malnourished. There have been countless such victims. Furthermore, the regime has sent large numbers of perfectly healthy practitioners to mental hospitals, injecting them with mind-altering drugs and causing severe psychological damage.
The above acts clearly violate the terms of the Convention Against Genocide.
Dangerous Minds: Political Psychiatry in China Today, a report issued by Human Rights Watch and the Geneva Institute on Psychiatry in August 2002, found that “large numbers of the group’s detained practitioners were forcibly sent to mental hospitals by the security authorities.” The practitioners are forced to take toxic drugs, are physically restrained for long periods in hospital beds and in dark hospital rooms, as well as being subjected to electroconvulsive treatment and brainwashing.
In addition, the regime is systematically disseminating propaganda against Falun Gong via its state controlled media, as well as through embassies and consulates throughout the world. Schools, work units, government departments, and indeed all Chinese citizens at home and abroad are pressured to join the campaign for fear of reprisals. Consequently, Falun Gong practitioners can no longer go to school, work, or enjoy a normal social life. Numerous families have been torn apart and forced into homelessness to avoid arrest. Tens of millions of Falun Gong practitioners cannot live a normal life. This is exactly the third category of the ICC “genocide” definition.
48 hours ago Judge Mathew F. Keneally accepted an Amicus Brief submitted by 38 Members of the US Congress including the kChairman of the House International Relations Committee, Illinois Republican Henry J. Hyde, and leading Democrat Tom Lantos who authored the Brief.
The Judge is expected to deliver his verdict as to whether the case will be allowed to proceed before the end of June.
Other Lawsuits.
Lawsuit Againist Jiang Zemin and two other top Chinese officials to the United Nations Committee
-Lawsuit Against P.R.C. Ministries for Criminal Conduct in USA – The PRC Ministry of State Security [“MSS”], the Ministry of Public Security [“MPS”], and China Central Television [“CCTV”] have been named as party defendants in this lawsuit, which has been filed in the United States District Court for Washington, D.C.
Lawsuit Against Head of China’s “610 Office” Li Lanqing in France
Summary of Lawsuit (From Legal Standpoint)
On October 18, 2002, individual plaintiffs filed a class action lawsuit in the United States District Court of the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division against Jiang Zemin and Falun Gong Control Office (Office 6/10). The complaint was filed under seal 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.
The lawsuit is a civil action for compensatory and punitive damages for torts committed in violation of international and domestic law, that is instituted pursuant to specific statutory authorization, namely the Alien Tort Claims Act (28 U.S.C. § 1350) and the Torture Victims Protection Act (106 Stat. 73 (1992)).
Plaintiffs are members of and represent a designated class of Falun Gong practitioners who have resided in China in the past, or are currently residing in the Peoples’ Republic of China, who were subjected to torture, genocide, and other major human rights abuses as current residents and citizens of the Peoples’ Republic of China, together with their immediately affected family members, or as visitors to that country. Individual plaintiffs also include U.S. citizens or alien residents of the U.S. who were purposefully, intentionally, subjected to discrimination based on their belief in the spiritual practice of Falun Gong and their co-extensive attempt to protest peacefully the persecution of Falun Gong in China during Defendant Jiang’s visit to Iceland in June of 2002.
Specific causes of action pleaded in the complaint are torture; genocide; the right to life; the right to liberty and security of the person, and to be free of arbitrary arrest and imprisonment; the freedom of thought, conscience and religion, and the freedom to hold opinions without interference and to associate freely; violations of the above-cited rights and protections as embodied in customary international law; conspiracy to commit violations of civil rights within the jurisdiction of the U.S.
