Swiss Lawmakers Ask U.N. to Help Bring Jiang Zemin to Justice
Thirty-six Swiss lawmakers jointly signed a letter to the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, urging him to help move forward the lawsuits against Jiang Zemin for his role in the 17-year persecution of Falun Gong.
Jiang Zemin, as then-head of Chinese Communist Party, launched the persecution in 1999, and personally directed the brutal campaign. Since May 2015, more than 200,000 Falun Gong practitioners throughout the world have filed lawsuits against Jiang with the Chinese Supreme Court. Meanwhile, several million people from multiple countries and areas, including China, have signed a petition calling upon the Chinese legal system to investigate Jiang’s crimes.
Before signing the letter, Henry Rappaz, a member of the Geneva Council, reminded people not to forgot that the world didn’t pay attention to the Nazis’ crimes until several million Jewish people lost their lives. He believes that it is time to take action to rescue the Chinese Falun Gong practitioners who have been suffering egregious human rights violations.
The letter first praised the current anti-corruption campaign in China that has brought about the fall of numerous high-ranking government officials. The Swiss lawmakers believe that the campaign is a sign of improvement in the Chinese legal system.
The letter pointed out that the persecution started by Jiang Zemin in 1999 is extremely brutal, especially the state-sanctioned forced organ harvesting from Falun Gong practitioners. The letter informed Mr. Hussein that many organizations, including the UN, the EU Parliament, and other human rights activists have made calls to end these organ harvesting crimes, with two million signatures to date.
The letter also called upon Mr. Hussein to encourage the Chinese president to indict Jiang and investigate his crimes, considering that more than 200,000 criminal complaints have been filed against him.
The lawmakers emphasized that the whole world is watching the development of the lawsuits, and all are witnesses. Therefore, they are making the call so that history will witness the actions taken today to stop these crimes.
Ten Swiss lawmakers sent a similar letter last August to the Chinese president directly, urging him to move forward with the lawsuits against Jiang.
This time, the signers include ten Federal Members of Parliament (MP), one former MP, one member of the Grand Council of the Canton of Geneva, a former member of the Grand Council, and 23 members of the Geneva Council.
MPs: Daniel Brelat, Dominique De Buma, Balthasar Glättli, Beat Jans, Liliane Maury-Pasquier, Lisa Mazzone, Carlo Sommaruga, Francine John, Andrea Geissbühler, Giovanni Merlini
Former MP: Ueli Leuenberger
Grand Council Member of Canton of Geneva: Didier Berberat
Former Grand Council Member: David Hiler
Geneva Council Members: Mathias Buschbeck, Marc Falquet, Jean Luc Forni, Henry Rappaz, Jean-Charles Rielle, Eric Stauffer, Andre Pfeffer, Bernhard Riedweg, Thomas Bläsi, Christian Flury, Christian Grobet, Christian Zaugg, Daniele Magnin, Florian Gander, Francois Baertschi, Jean-François Girardet, Jean-Marie Voumard, Patrick Dimier, Patrick Lussi, Sandra Golay, Sarah Klopmann, Stephane Florey, Thomas Wenger