[October 22, 2002] Jiang Zemin, Secretary General of China's Communist Party, has been sued under United States Human Rights Statutes (Alien Tort Claim Act & Torture Victims Protection Act) for the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners. A legal complaint alleging torture and genocide has been filed in the U.S. District Court of the Northern District of Illinois and was served Tuesday to security officers guarding Jiang at the Chicago Ritz-Carlton Hotel.

Terri E. Marsh, attorney for the plaintiffs, and Frederick Rhine, partner of Chicago-based Gessler, Hughes, Socol, Piers, Resnick, & Dym Ltd., will speak at a press briefing Wednesday morning, 10:00 a.m., at the Palmer House Hotel, Cresthil Room on the third floor.

Attorney Marsh is in Chicago and can be reached for comment at (202) 369-4977.

The Falun Gong spiritual movement has successfully filed a number of lawsuits against visiting Chinese officials on U.S. soil for their participation in persecuting Falun Gong adherents in China. When Hun Jintao, China's Vice President, was in Washington, D.C. earlier this year, Hu refused to take a letter from US Congressional leaders because of fear that it might be paperwork for a lawsuit from Falun Gong followers.