Hartford, USA - Lawyers for a Chinese television official accused of inciting torture in his country tried to convince a judge Thursday that a case brought by members of the Falun Gong spiritual movement doesn't belong in a U.S. court.
Zhao Zhizhen, who runs a TV station in Wuhan, China, is being sued under the Alien Tort Statute, a 215-year-old law that allows foreigners to sue in the U.S. over human rights abuses committed anywhere.
He was served with the lawsuit last year, while in Connecticut for his daughter's graduation from Yale. He has since returned to China.
Zhao's attorney, Bruce Rosen, told U.S. District Judge Robert Chatigny that Zhao has never promoted the persecution of the Falun Gong. He aired a program, "nothing more biting" than "60 Minutes" or "20/20," meant to express an opinion that the group's founder was a charlatan, Rosen argued.
"We believe this is a case about speech," Rosen said. "This is a case of libel. This is not a case of aiding and abetting torture."
But Terri Marsh, an attorney for the Falun Gong members, compared Zhao to Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels.
She said he was responsible for programming on both state-run television and the Internet that called for the eradication of the banned Falun Gong movement.
China's government considers Falun Gong a cult that threatens public order and communist rule and has led more than 1,600 followers to their deaths, mostly by encouraging them to eschew modern medical treatment.
Falun Gong practitioners say their group practices exercises and philosophies promoting good health and moral living that are drawn from Buddhism, Taoism and Li Hongzhi, the group's founder. They say the basic principles are truthfulness, compassion and tolerance.
But Marsh said the Chinese people were shown programs on state-run TV that portray members of the group as ax murderers. She said Zhao also helped create a Web site that includes calls for the Chinese people to shoot Falun Gong members and "beat them like road rats."
"We are not condemning speech in this case," she said. "We are condemning speech that is intricately linked to a campaign to incite persecution, a campaign of torture."
Rosen argued that holding Zhao responsible for everything on the Web site would be like holding America Online responsible for everything said in its chat rooms.
"These are not Mr. Zhao's statements," he said.
More than 250 people, mostly Falun Gong practitioners and supporters, packed the courtroom Thursday, forcing marshals to turn others away.
Outside, plaintiff Chen Gang, 34, said a movie made by Zhao was shown over and over inside the labor camp where he was sent in 2000 for being a member of Falun Gong. He said that type of propaganda led to beatings and other torture.
"Before the suppression started, the media comes out and says these guys are bad," Chen said. "That gives them the excuse. Some crimes are hidden. If you give someone the knife and say, 'That guy is bad,' it makes what happens worse."
Marsh said the group is not interested in monetary damages but wants to see Chinese officials held publicly accountable for the suffering of the Falun Gong.
"What we really want is for these abuses to stop," she said.
Chatigny did not say when he would rule on Zhao's motion to dismiss the case.