Attorney General Philip Ruddock's Department has intervened to stop a default judgment against a high-ranking Chinese Government official for his role in the torture and persecution of Falun Gong practitioners in China.
The surprise action in the Supreme Court of New South Wales came after the Attorney General's department received an unspecified letter from the Chinese Embassy.
The move comes one week after the NSW Supreme Court issued a default judgment against another high-ranking official, Chinese Minister of Commerce Bo Xilai, in a similar case.
In the case heard on Tuesday November 13, plaintiffs Ms Yan Xie and Ms Fuying Li had applied for default judgment after defendant Chen Shaoji failed to provide a defence.
Mr Chen, Former Communist Party Secretary of the Guangdong Political and Judicial Committee, once directed the Gestapo-like 610 Office in Guangdong Province, personally overseeing the detention, torture and forced "brainwashing" of Falun Gong practitioners in the region.
First defendant Ms Yan Xie says she was held for two years and three months without trial in a forced labour camp, after being arrested in October 2000 possessing Falun Gong literature.
Ms Xie alleges she was shackled and suspended from window bars for as long as 48 hours, as well as deprived of sleep and forced to watch videos that slandered the Falun Gong spiritual practice.
Barrister for the plaintiffs, Angela Ketas, has requested the solicitor for the Attorney General's Department provide reasons for the intervention and on what legal basis.
"The solicitor for the Attorney General's Department did indicate the nature of their submissions would be in relation to the Foreign States Immunity Act," she said.
Ms Ketas says the next hearing on November 26 will address whether the Attorney General's Department be granted leave to intervene in the case, and whether a default judgment be granted to the plaintiffs.
The default judgment made last week on Monday November 5 recognised that the defendant, Chinese Minister of Commerce Bo Xilai, had failed to provide a defence for the case brought against him by Sydney Falun Gong practitioner Mr Pan Yu in March 2006.
Mr Bo was Governor of Liaoning Province in 2000, where at least 373 Falun Gong practitioners have been confirmed dead due to torture and mistreatment in custody. He was served the originating process in person while in Canberra for the APEC Leaders Forum.
The judgment was hailed as a win by Mr Pan's legal team, being the first legal judgment against Mr Bo out of lawsuits filed in more than 10 countries, including the USA, the UK and Canada.
"This case as the first of its kind sends a clear message to Bo Xilai," said Newton Xu, legal assistant for the case, at a press conference. "The Supreme Court of New South Wales has issued a default judgment against you, which is tantamount to an admission of legal liability and legal responsibility."
Mr Pan was subjected to torture sessions that forced him to renounce his belief in Falun Gong.
The next hearing against Mr Bo will be in August 2008, to determine compensation payable to the plaintiff.
Falun Gong is a meditation practice that includes moral teachings. In response to its rising popularity in China, Communist leader Jiang Zemin outlawed the practice in July 1999.
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