An Australian Chinese artist says her civil court action against former Chinese dictator Jiang Zemin for crimes against humanity is being stalled by the Australian government because of pressure from communist China.
Sydney artist, Zhang Cuiying, said that the Australian government has delayed the service of legal documents upon Jiang Zemin, which has impeded the NSW Supreme court case to the point where it has "hit a brick wall".
In an open letter to the Australian public Ms Zhang stated: "DFAT [Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade] and the Office of the Attorney General [OAG] unreasonably delayed the service or process, and now more than a year has passed, the initial proceedings still have not been served on the defendant and it has passed the time limit for service specified by the court."
Due to inaction from DFAT Ms Zhang last year lodged a motion to seek court orders to extend the service time period. The Supreme Court of NSW, she says, will hold a hearing on this coming Monday February 26 to make a decision.
Six years ago Ms Zhang, an Australian citizen, was held in a Chinese labour camp after she appealed in Beijing for an end to the persecution of the spiritual practise of Falun Gong in China.
The persecution of over 70 million Chinese citizens who practised Falun Gong was instigated by Jiang Zemin in 1999. He also established a secret security organisation know as the 610 Office to oversee the crackdown.
After eights months of incarceration, where she experienced degrading treatment and torture, Ms Zhang was released with the assistance of the Australian government.
A few years later she filed her case in September 2004, and posted the statement of claim to Jiang Zemin and the 610 Office. While the former communist leader refused to accept the statement, it is understood that the 610 Office acknowledged the receipt of the document.
However, Ms Zhang was later informed by the OAG that since no convention has been signed between Chinese authorities and the Australian government, such legal documents involving Chinese nationals had to be served through diplomatic channels via DFAT.
The documents previously sent by Ms Zhang were not considered valid and she had to apply to court to request DFAT to serve the documents upon the defendants.
From this point Ms Zhang believes the delays began and she is seeking court orders to extend the time period for service.
"On September 20, 2005, the Supreme Court sent the notice to the Department of Justice [the Department of Justice required the DFAT deliver the notice to China], and the hearing was on March 30, 2006," she wrote in her statement.
"But the relevant departments did not assist immediately according to the court orders, but tried their best to delay, and prevent the implementation of the legal proceedings."
The diplomatic pressure applied on DFAT from the Chinese regime over the case has been widely reported. The Australian newspaper reported on November 4, three years ago that "The claim sent China into a diplomatic frenzy. China's ambassador to Australia, Fu Ying, has repeatedly visited the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade in Canberra to express concern over the case, raising it at various levels of bureaucracy …'They can't understand why the government can't just stop it from going ahead, like it would in China,' a source said."
Following these revelations a year later, were the allegations made by former Chinese diplomat Chen Yonglin who told Channel Nine's Sunday program that he read coded reports saying a senior Foreign Affairs official was offering the Chinese regime assistance with the case.
Mr Chen has continued to support Ms. Zhang's claims. After the last court hearing last year he told The Epoch Times that Australian officials were delaying the delivery of court documents to please Beijing. DFAT are currently undergoing free trade agreement talks with the Chinese regime.
"It's because of very strong political pressure from the Communist regime. The Australian Government is negotiating the FTA [Free Trade Agreement] with China, hoping compromise will bring special economic treatment," he says.
"One suggestion [from Beijing] was for DFAT to write a letter to the court to quote the laws on 1985 Foreign States Immunity Act, making communist dictator Jiang Zemin immune [from any legal action]. But if the government wrote such a letter it would've broken the law, so they made a compromise and [offered] legal advice - one way was to wait until the case expired," the former diplomat said.
Last Thursday a press conference was held outside the NSW supreme court supporting Ms Zhang's case against Jiang Zemin which included a letter of support from Labor front bencher Chris Bowen.
Among the speakers was one Doris Chen, Australian citizen and traditional Chinese medical practitioner, who had just recently been told her mother, had been sentenced to three years in a jail in China for being caught with Falun Gong material.
"Ms Zhang did this [legal case] not just for herself but for the millions of people [in China]," said Miss Chen, "Including my mum, who are still suffering, for their beliefs in China, this is a case with great meaning – it is a big chance for Australia to show its country's basic principles of freedom, democracy and justice of law."