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Chinese Party Secretary
Sued While Visiting Boston
Falun Gong may not have been top-of-mind for Chinese
Communist Party Secretary Wang Taihua as he mingled
with members of Boston Chinese Community Sunday night,
but it certainly was the main topic of conversation
for him at breakfast.
As the Anhui Province official slept in his hotel room,
practitioners of the spiritual practice Falun Gong
waited patiently till early Monday morning to serve
him with a class-action lawsuit charging him with
torture, murder, and genocide.
Falun Gong was banned in China in 1999 and has since
received brutal treatment from the Chinese regime
there. For the past 5 years, many instances of human
rights abuses against the spiritual group have been
reported in China and abroad.
Boston practitioners first learned of Wang¡¯s visit to
the area early last week and scrambled to put together
the lawsuit in time for his arrival.
The lawsuit was filed on May 21st in Moakley U.S.
Federal Courthouse on behalf of four plaintiffs from
Anhui Province. The complaint alleges that under
Wang¡¯s direction, the plaintiffs were subjected to
torture and abuse in the Female Labor Re-Education
Camp and mental hospitals located in Anhui Province.
Wang and those traveling with him declined to comment
on the lawsuit or the validity of the charges.
A Boston representative of the World Organization to
Investigate the Persecution Against Falun Gong
commented, Wang has taken an enthusiastic role in the
persecution and has on numerous public occasions
supported the persecution of Falun Gong in China.
According to a speech given on December 17, 2003, at
the Anhui Public Security Work Meeting, Wang demanded
that each level of the party committee and government
take strict precautions against and harshly crack down
on the illegal activities of Falun Gong at present and
in the future. He also demanded the implementation of
a crackdown policy to maintain high pressure in
punishing the group.
Wang Taihua joins a growing number of Chinese
officials who have been charged under the Alien Tort
Claims Act and Torture Victims Protection Act during
their visits to the United States.
Most recently Bo Xilai, Minister of Commerce and
former Governor of Liaoning Province, was served with
a lawsuit charging him with torture, genocide, and
crimes against humanity during his visit to Washington
D.C. in April.
Former Chinese leader Jiang Zemin was served with
similar charges while visiting Chicago two years ago.
Oral arguments in Jiang case are scheduled to begin in
U.S. Northern District Court of Illinois on May 27.
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