Doe v. Liu Qi

 

On February 2002, the President of the Beijing Organizing Committee for the 2008 Olympic Games and Mayor Liu Qi of Beijing, China were charged in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California for the Beijing police department’s crimes of torture, sexual assault, arbitrary arrest, and detention of the Falun Gong group. After his failure to respond, Judge Claudia Wilken of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California entered a default judgment against Qi in December 2004. Plaintiffs included Chinese, U.S. Israeli, French, and Swedish nationals.

In 1999, Chinese Premier Jiang Zemin brutal crackdown on the Falun Gong group resulted in mass detention, reeducation through labor (RTL), and mental institutionalization. Ordering that the Falun Gong be “resolutely smashed”, numerous deaths and widespread repression of dissidents were reported in the lead up to the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.

The Chinese and U.S. government both requested that the Magistrate Judge Ed Chen dismiss the case, with the Department of State citing potential suits being filed against U.S. officials and citing the Act of State Doctrine. Judge Chen issued a Report and Recommendation on 2002 stating that Qi was not entitled to sovereign immunity under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act, which only protects officials who act outside their scope of authority.

 

Source: "Case Summary." The Center for Justice and Accountability. The Center for Justice and Accountability. Web. 1 Feb 2014. <http://cja.live2.radicaldesigns.org/article.php?list=type&type=36>.