While visiting Chinese official Bo Xilai was served with legal papers Monday, questions remain as to why the Chinese Commerce Minister accused of crimes against humanity was allowed to enter Canada in the first place.
Despite the fact that Bo was one of a number of high-ranking Chinese officials who have been on an RCMP watch list, he freely entered the country with a trade delegation from China last Friday.
An unnamed individual served Bo in an elevator at Ottawa's Westin Hotel after he returned from a visit to the Foreign Affairs Department. The RCMP, who had earlier threatened to arrest anyone who serves a lawsuit on Bo, witnessed the service but did not interfere.
Bo is accused of overseeing a systematic campaign of torture against adherents of Falun Gong, a Chinese meditation practice, in the northeast Chinese province of Liaoning, where he was governor from 2001 to 2004.
Falun Gong practitioner Zhang Lingdi says she's shocked that someone who has been sued for crimes against humanity in over 10 countries could have been welcomed to Canada, especially in light of the fact that the government was aware of the charges against Bo.
"Bo is a criminal," says Zhang. "He's responsible for lots of crimes against Falun Gong practitioners. He shouldn't have been invited here in the first place—Canada should have barred him."
Zhang's father is Professor Zhang Kunlun, a Canadian citizen who was tortured by the authorities in China for his belief in Falun Gong. Thanks to the efforts of fellow practitioners and the Canadian government, Prof. Zhang was able to return to Canada.
In September 2003, the RCMP accepted a watch-list of high-ranking Chinese officials accused of torture and crimes against humanity pertaining to Falun Gong practitioners in China. Bo Xilai was among the first 15 names on the list, which now numbers 45.
The RCMP had agreed to look into their alleged criminal actions if any of the officials on the list enter Canada, while Citizenship and Immigration Canada would consider barring listed individuals from entering the country.
Bo was scheduled to visit Canada along with Chinese leader Hu Jintao in 2005 when Paul Martin was prime minister. After protests over Bo's planned visit, however, he was notably absent when the delegation arrived.
Bo is known to be a close ally of Jiang Zemin, the former communist leader who started the persecution of Falun Gong in 1999. When Jiang stepped down in 2004, Bo was among the members of the Jiang clique to be catapulted into top positions in the government.
Earlier on Monday, Falun Gong practitioners held a rally outside the Foreign Affairs office in Ottawa to protest Bo's visit and to express outrage regarding the RCMP's high-level orders to arrest anyone who serves Bo legal papers.
"By welcoming Bo to Canada, and by stopping Canadians from exercising their right to seek lawful, legal redress for horrific crimes, the Canadian government is in fact providing a safe haven for one who has committed atrocities, continuing the cycle of impunity. Our government must not allow Bo Xilai to further stain the history of Canada," says Li Xun, president of the Falun Dafa Association of Canada (FDAC).
Bo was a leading figure in the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP's) persecution of Falun Gong. He is accused of being responsible for a brutal campaign of persecution of adherents of the spiritual practice during the time he was governor of Liaoning, resulting in more than 100 confirmed torture deaths.
The civil lawsuit served on Bo today, filed by Toronto resident Jin Rong in the Ontario Superior Court, states that Bo used his powerful position as governor to "force or compel" other CCP members and local government officials to participate in her persecution when he was governor.
Bo acted "without any legal authority and outside and contrary to Chinese and international law. He thus acted in his private capacity ... and is not entitled to immunity from suit in Canada," Jin's statement of claim reads. Twenty-seven year old Jin is seeking $6.25 million.
Jin's lawyer, Ottawa human rights attorney Lawrence Greenspon, says that while he doubts Bo will ever end up behind bars for his crimes, the primary purpose in bringing the action was to make people aware that "Canada is hosting part of the apparatus of torturing Falun Gong."
"We have a Canadian citizen who was over there and was arrested, detained and tortured on two separate occasions, and she's got the right to bring a civil action against Bo Xilai." According to a U.N. Special Rapporteur report, more than 1,500 Falun Gong practitioners were detained in the Masanjia Labour Camp in Liaoning. Between 2001 and 2004, U.N. Special Rapporteurs contacted Chinese authorities with concerns regarding at least 15 cases of abuse against Falun Gong practitioners in Liaoning.
The most appalling was a report that 18 female Falun Gong adherents had been stripped naked and thrown into the cells of male criminals at Masanjia Labour Camp in an effort to force them to renounce their belief in Falun Gong, and that high-level officials had actually encouraged this abuse. Zhang says Bo attended at least four persecution "strategy sessions" in Shenyang City, the capital of Liaoning province, in 2001. "He didn't just oversee the persecution—he was directly involved."
FDAC says that there have been more than 318 documented deaths of Falun Gong practitioners in Liaoning province as of April 2007. The actual numbers are thought to be much higher, especially taking into account the findings of the Kilgour/Matas organ harvesting investigative report, Bloody Harvest, which documents evidence of large-scale organ seizures from murdered practitioners in Liaoning province.
FDAC has called for Canadian officials to cancel all further meetings with Bo and to take "immediate action" to expel him from Canada.
"In the formality of shaking hands with Bo, please remember the victims of his campaign of torture and killing, and choose to stand on the side of moral conscience and integrity as the representatives of the Canadian people," says Li Xun.
Calls requesting comment from the Department of Foreign Affairs were not returned by press time.
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