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Lawsuit filed against Beijing official
GONG SHOW:Despite a legislative resolution adopted last
week that prohibits known Chinese human rights violators from entering Taiwan,
Ji Lin arrived in Taipei yesterday
By Loa Iok-sin / Staff Reporter
Falun Gong practitioners in Taiwan yesterday filed a lawsuit against Beijing
Deputy Mayor Ji Lin (¦NªL) ¡X who arrived in Taiwan in the afternoon ¡X for the
abuse of Falun Gong practitioners in Beijing.
¡§Having served in several party and government leadership positions in Beijing
since 1998, Ji has played either an assisting or leading role in mass arrests of
Falun Gong practitioners in the city,¡¨ Taiwan Falun Dafa Association chairman
Chang Ching-hsi (±i²M·Ë) told reporters outside the Taiwan High Prosecutors¡¦
Office.
¡§In 2008, when he served on the organizing committee of the Beijing Olympics, he
launched another wave of mass arrests of Falun Gong practitioners in Beijing in
the name of security, which led to the torture and death of a well-known local
musician, Yu Zhou (¤_©z),¡¨ Chang said.
Ji, who the Falun Gong had said would arrive at 11:55pm, arrived in Taiwan at
about 3pm, accompanied by a delegation of more than 200 members for meetings on
potential cooperation in business and technology.
DISCREPANCY
At press time, the discrepancy in Ji¡¦s time of arrival could not be accounted
for.
Falun Gong practitioner and attorney Teresa Chu (¦¶°ûµX) said the legislature
adopted a resolution on Tuesday last week requiring government authorities ¡X
including the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) and the National Immigration Agency
(NIA) ¡X to deny entry into Taiwan to Chinese officials who are known to have
been involved in human rights abuses.
The resolution was proposed by Democratic Progressive Party legislators Tien
Chiu-chin (¥Ð¬îÔ») and Chen Ting-fei (³¯«F¦m) and received support from lawmakers
across party lines.
Aside from the legislature¡¦s adoption of the resolution, six counties and cities
¡X Kaohsiung, Changhua, Hualien, Miaoli and Yunlin counties, as well as Kaohisung
and Chiayi cities ¡X have adopted similar, albeit separate, resolutions.
PRECEDENT
¡§Ji is the first Chinese official who has committed crimes against humanity, but
who was nevertheless permitted to come into the country since the adoption of
the resolution,¡¨ Chu said. ¡§This is why we¡¦re filing the lawsuit.¡¨
As knowledge of which Chinese officials were human rights violators was
difficult to determine, Chu called on the MAC and NIA to publicize a list of
Chinese officials invited to visit ¡§so that we can help the government identify
who has committed crimes against humanity and provide evidence.¡¨
Responding to the development, NIA Deputy Director-General Ho Jung-tsun (¦óºa§ø)
told the Taipei Times by telephone that ¡§the permission for Ji¡¦s visit was
issued before the [legislative] resolution on Dec. 7,¡¨ which appeared to suggest
that the resolution was not retroactive.
¡§Since prosecutors have taken over the case, we will do our best to assist them
and follow whatever they want us to do,¡¨ Ho said.
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