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There are over 3,000 confirmed torture deaths according to Falun Gong sources, and the persecution against the group is commonly cited as among the most severe human rights abuses in China. The persecution began in 1999, following seven years of rapid growth in popularity of the practice in China.
If Jiang or Luo travel to a country that has an extradition treaty with Argentina, they may be detained, transferred to Argentina, and brought before the court, Lamadrid said. According to one of the lawyers at the Human Rights Law Foundation, Terri Marsh, if the defendants stand trial, a guilty verdict is assured and significant jail time likely.
The judge's decision was based on evidence that included the oral testimonies of 17 victims of torture and other forms of persecution. The witnesses provided a “harsh and very concrete vision of the sinister attitude toward human rights held by the Chinese Communist Party,” according to Alejandro Cowes, one of the attorneys who initially filed the case on behalf of Falun Gong victims.
The judge also took into account the testimony of doctors, United Nations reports, and research by human rights groups such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch.
“The genocidal strategy … comprised a broad range of actions arranged in total contempt for life and human dignity,” Lamadrid said in his decision, which took four years from when the gathering of evidence began.
“The designated purpose—the eradication of Falun Gong—was used to justify any means used. Therefore, torment, torture, disappearances, deaths, brainwashing, psychological torture were everyday occurrences in the persecution of its practitioners,” he said.
“I understand that in the present case the principle of universal jurisdiction must be applied in view of the [severity of the] crimes, the number of victims affected, and the ideological nature of the actions taken against members of the Falun Gong religious group,” the judge said in his ruling.
The decision was unique in bringing together the application of universal jurisdiction, the recentness of the crimes, and the first arrest warrant for top-ranking Chinese officials, said Mr. Cowes.
“For China, or better said for the people of China, it means that this could be the beginning of the end of a dictatorship that has been in power for the last 60 years, and exercised bloody repression with over 85 million victims,” he said.
“For the international community, this is a wake-up call.”
