WASHINGTON - Bo Xilai, the new Chinese Minister of Commerce, is presently visiting the U.S. for trade talks, but not everyone is giving him a warm welcome.

Thursday evening in front of the Fairmont Hotel in Washington, D.C., Bo was served with a lawsuit alleging such serious human rights abuses as torture, genocide and other crimes against humanity.

Bo accepted the legal papers, but after realizing he’d been served with a lawsuit he proceeded to throw the papers on to the ground. The individual who served the papers said he was attacked by those in Bo’s entourage.

Roldan stated that he was happy to have served the legal papers on the defendant and had no intention of filing criminal charges after being attacked.

Some US-based human rights organizations are calling for Bo to be forced to leave the country because they believe he is a key figure in the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners in Mainland China. Falun Gong is a spiritual practice that has been banned in China.

On March 9, 2004, Friends of Falun Gong (FoFG), together with the World Organization to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong (WOIPFG), delivered to the Department of Homeland Security's Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) office a list of 100 human rights violators who have been the most heavily involved in the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners in China. Bo Xilai was included on that list.

FoFG and WOIPFG said that the intensity in suppressing Falun Gong had increased everywhere that Bo Xilai held positions in China. As Provincial Governor of Liaoning Province, Bo raised the province’s death rate of imprisoned Falun Gong practitioners to the fourth highest in China. A total of 93 deaths have been recorded there to date.

Liaoning Province is also infamous for the Masanjia Labor Re-education Camp, where the method of throwing more than a dozen female practitioners naked into male jail cells was used in an attempt to force them to renounce their spiritual beliefs.

WOIPFG stated that, “After former Chinese president Jiang Zemin personally initiated the persecution of Falun Gong, Bo Xilai spared no effort to support the persecution. During his tenure as Dalian City Mayor [1993-2001], Dalian was one of the cities that suppressed Falun Gong most severely. Fifteen Falun Gong practitioners were persecuted to death. Jiang Zemin [then] personally promoted Bo Xilai to be Liaoning Provincial Governor.”

The Chinese Embassy could not be reached for comment.

Falun Gong practitioners appealed outside of the Chinese Embassy and Bo’s hotel in an effort to let the public know about their concerns.

Bo wasn’t the only Chinese official visiting Washington, D.C. Vice Premier and Minister of Health Wu Yi was there for meetings on trade and commerce, as well. Human Rights Watch has said that Wu should do more to address abuses against persons living with HIV/AIDS.