Toronto/Winnipeg – Mr. Munyonzwe Hamalengwa and David Matas, Legal
Counsels for Ms. Rong Jin, filed a Notice of Appeal with the Appeal
Court of Ontario to appeal the judgment that allows the All China
Lawyers Association (ACLA) to intervene as a friend of the Court the
lawsuit against Chinese Communist official Bo, Xilai for torture
inflicted on the plaintiff in the brutal suppression of Falun Gong in
China.
The lawsuit was filed in October 2007 during Bo’s visit to Canada.
Although the defendant did not respond, ACLA moved a motion to
intervene as a friend of the Court on the issue of immunity, which
Ontario Superior Court granted on June 18, 2010.
“The applicant [ACLA] in China is a Chinese Communist Party accomplice
in suppressing Falun Gong. … Lawyers associations in China also
cancelled licenses or refuse to renew licences of lawyers who defend
the Falun Gong practitioners”, wrote Hamalengwa and Matas in the
written submission to Ontario Superior Court.
“The applicant [ACLA] is indivisible from the government of the
People's Republic of China and the Chinese Communist Party who have
the plaintiff's blood on their hands. It would demean Canadian justice
to allow the applicant to intervene as a ‘friend of the court’ in this
case,” wrote Hamalengwa and Matas.
According to the affidavit filed by Mr. Han Guangsheng, former head of
a provincial justice bureau in China, the persecution of Falun Gong
was carried out through an extra-judicial system called “610 Office”
inside a Chinese Communist Party committee that directs the “Courts”,
Public Security Bureau, the Procuratorate and Justice Department to
carry out its mandate of eradicating Falun Gong. ACLA, as a
subordinate of the Justice Department, also carried out such orders.
In 2009, several organizations, including the New York City bar, the
International Bar, the Law Society of Upper Canada, and the U.S.
Congress, have expressed concerns about ACLA and its branch
associations roles and instructions in restricting its members’
ability in taking sensitive cases.
Falun Gong is an exercise and meditation with an principle of
Truth-Compassion-Forbearance. The group has been under severe
suppression since 1999 by the Chinese Communist Regime.
For more information, please contact:
Munyonzwe Hamalengwa
416-644-1106
David Matas
204-944-1831
