ARGENTINA/FILE: Argentine judge orders arrest of two former top Chinese Communist Party politicians on torture and genocide charges

Record ID: 449000

  • Title: ARGENTINA/FILE: Argentine judge orders arrest of two former top Chinese Communist Party politicians on torture and genocide charges
  • Date: 23rd December 2009
  • Summary: BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA (DECEMBER 22, 2009) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) PROSECUTION LAWYER ADOLFO CASABAL ELIA, SAYING: "Just the fact that this ruling has been passed is very important. It is very important for Argentina to have a judge that has the sufficient guarantees to confront the Chinese regime and it is very important for the world that these types of situations occur so that others will follow and we can conquer this terrible persecution that is being carried out by the Chinese Communist Party."
  • Embargoed: 7th January 2010 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement
  • Reuters ID: LVA2TBL4K0QWUHSGPKY8Z901WEMU
  • Story Text: An Argentine judge has ordered the arrest of former Chinese President Jiang Zemin and former security chief Luo Gan for torture and genocide, in what prosecution lawyers in the case said on Tuesday (December 22) was a historic ruling.
    Judge Octavio Araoz de Lamadrid issued the capture order after four years of investigating evidence of abuses and torture against members of the Falun Gong spiritual group in China, also called the Falun Dafa.
    The Falun Dafa Information Center, which documents suspected abuses against practitioners in China, says 104 Falun Gong adherents died of abuse or neglect in custody last year, bringing to 3,242 the number of deaths documented over 10 years.
    Argentine representatives of the group brought forward the case and said they hoped it would change views about the Falun Gong in China.
    "I think this lawsuit is such great news because if [the people in China] see that somebody is saying that this is wrong, even here in Argentina, they will be able to think that maybe what the government is telling them is not right. If a judge in another country says that this is happening, they are killing people, this is true, but I hear what the government says, all the slander against the Falun Gong that we are lying, this might be true because some other foreigners are saying it as well. This is so important. That's why we need this," said Liewi Fu, president of the Argentine Falun Dafa Association.
    The judge ruled that former President Jiang was responsible for initiating policies that persecuted the Falun Gong in the 1990s and for ordering the opening of the Falun Gong Control Office, run by Luo.
    A decade-long crackdown drove Falun Gong underground in mainland China but it has flourished abroad, where it has morphed from a spiritual movement into a more politicised group.
    Thousands have been jailed since China declared Falun Gong a "cult".
    Prosecution lawyers in the case said it is first time worldwide an arrest warrant has been ordered for two former Chinese Communist Party leaders, but they had little hope the order would actually result in a trial.
    "Just the fact that this ruling has been passed is very important. It is very important for Argentina to have a judge that has the sufficient guarantees to confront the Chinese regime and it is very important for the world that these types of situations occur so that others will follow and we can conquer this terrible persecution that is being carried out by the Chinese Communist Party," said prosecution lawyer Adolfo Casabal Elia.
    Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner will visit China next month.
    Her husband former Argentine president Nestor Kirchner met Chinese leader Hu Jintao last in 2004.
    The two countries are expected to increase bilateral and trade links in February's visit; Fernandez will be travelling with a large delegation of Argentine business representatives.
    An Interpol source told Reuters they had received the order request but it had not yet been processed.
    In Argentina, judges investigate cases and can issue arrest warrants so that suspects come to testify in the case.
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