(Clearwisdom.net) On the 20th of November, 2003, the German Falun Dafa Association, together with forty-one Dafa practitioners, filed a lawsuit with the German Federal Supreme Court charging former Chinese head-of-state Jiang Zemin and 16 other high ranking Chinese leaders with genocide, crimes against humanity, cruel torture and infringement of human rights.

The plaintiffs' legal representative is Mr. Wolfgang Kaleck, a lawyer from Berlin who is well known for representing German victims of Argentine military dictator Pinochet. In an 86-page document, Mr. Kaleck detailed the charges of genocide, crimes against humanity, cruel torture and infringement of human rights committed by Jiang Zemin and Luo Gan, the head of the 610 Office. Mr. Kaleck said: "The Chinese Communist Party formulated a method to eliminate Falun Gong practitioners so as to not let this group have any chance of survival."

The persecution of Falun Gong was launched by an order from Jiang Zemin: "Destroy their reputations, bankrupt them financially and eliminate them physically." This order has infringed upon tens of millions of Chinese people's lives over the past four years. Falun Gong practitioners' relatives and friends, government officials and students in schools and universities have been instigated to antagonize and report to the authorities about Falun Gong practitioners. Falun Gong practitioners have been viciously harassed and forced to abandon their own homes. In prisons and forced labor camps, hundreds of thousands of Falun Gong practitioners are being cruelly tortured, brainwashed and forced to abandon their moral principles. Their families have been broken, and have nowhere to go. Female practitioners have been raped and forced to have abortions. Many innocent people have even been tortured to death.

A representative of Falun Gong practitioners, Ms. Zheng, told a reporter: "The persecution that has been initiated by the Jiang and Luo regime is targeted at a group of people who practice Falun Dafa. In Mainland China, the methods being used [against practitioners] are cruel torture, brainwashing and outright murder. Internationally, they use lies and slanderous approaches to oppress Falun Gong. As a result, all Falun Gong practitioners are victims. During the past four years, we have always chosen peaceful methods to thwart the persecution. We wish to stop the persecution through legal means and human justice."

Source: http://clearharmony.net/articles/200311/16344.html