Uyghur activists in France re-file transnational repression case in Paris court
Case stems back to events that occurred during Xi Jinping’s visit to France in May 2024
Read a version of this story in Uyghur
Two Uyghur activists in France have re-filed a complaint to a Paris court alleging that China engaged in transnational repression against them, the France-based European Uyghur Institute said.
Dilnur Reyhan, the director of the institute, and one of the filers of the case, made the announcement at a press conference last week.
She and Gulbahar Jelilova, a Uyghur re-education camp survivor, claim that during Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to France in May 2024, Chinese citizens organized by the Chinese Embassy attacked a protest led by the institute, and later, surveilled Jelilova’s home and tried to take her hostage.
Shortly after these incidents, Jelilova and Reyhan filed a complaint with the Paris court, but it has not yet ruled on their complaint. So they filed another complaint on March 10.
“China’s actions are not only threats against Uyghurs in France but also against all Uyghurs in exile,” Dilnur Reyhan said in a telephone interview with RFA Uyghur.
She explained that their previous filing was a “simple complaint.” They are now filing an “individual complaint” because the first filing received no response.
“The reason behind the Chinese Embassy’s actions is to intimidate the entire Uyghur diaspora,” she said. “Even if you live in France, the message they’re trying to send is that they can do whatever they want. We refuse to let them go unpunished.”
A simple complaint in French law alerts authorities that a crime may have occurred and triggers an investigation, according to a French government website.
An individual complaint, meanwhile, is a mechanism by which claimants can request “enforcement of rights guaranteed under international law,” according to the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights.
“What we’re really addressing in our complaint is not China’s transnational repression but the continuation of China’s genocide against the Uyghurs,” said Reyhan. “Our complaint focuses on China’s attempt to extend the Uyghur genocide by causing psychological harm to Uyghurs in the diaspora.”
The other complainant, Gulbahar Jelilova, was not available for comment because she has been hospitalized for ailments related to torture she experienced while being detained in what some describe as concentration camps.
US labels crackdown a ‘genocide’
Since 2017 the Chinese government began a crackdown, herding an estimated 1.8 million Uyghurs and other Turkic minorities into re-education camps and prisons.
China claims that these camps are vocational training centers where people learn job skills, but the United States in 2021 classified the crackdown as a “genocide.”
Regarding the first complaint, it may be because of potential damage to Sino-Franco relations that the court has not opened a case, Jérôme Carsenti, a lawyer for the European Uyghur Institute said.
He was not able to answer whether the French government has conducted any investigation into the complaint.
But Dilnur Reyhan said that one of the people who threatened Gulbahar Jelilova outside her home was an employee of the Chinese Embassy in France, who was later deported.
“This is not just repression directed only at Uyghurs, but an incident that occurred in France, which is considered the cradle of democracy,” she said. “It is also an attack on France’s democratic values and credibility.”
She also explained that during the protest that coincided with Xi’s visit, she and 10 others protested in front of the Chinese embassy, and sprayed red paint on what she described as Chinese “propaganda boards.”
“And they sued me over it,” she said. “Although their complaint was dismissed in March 2023, they reopened the case in June 2024.”
The court case over the red paint incident commenced on March 12, and has received extensive coverage in French media.
Although Dilnur Reyhan and others arrived at court that day, the hearing did not take place because representatives from the Chinese Embassy, who filed the complaint, did not show up to the hearing.
French newspaper Le Monde described this case by stating: “China’s goal is to force people like Dilnur and Gulbahar Jelilova into silence and prevent their activities. China is attempting transnational repression by creating judicial harassment against people in exile.”
“The judge suggested that the Chinese embassy might not be aware of this court date, so we can’t dismiss the case yet and need to give the embassy a chance to respond. The court has been rescheduled for October 13th,” said Reyhan.
Additionally, Le Monde published an article about an open letter signed by more than 100 scholars, in support of Dilnur Reyhan, calling on the French authorities to address the issue of transnational repression and the attack on the freedom of speech of a researcher.
Translated by Alim Seytoff. Edited by Eugene Whong and Malcolm Foster.
This article has been sourced from various publicly available news platforms around the world. All intellectual property rights remain with the original publishers and authors. Unshared News does not claim ownership of the content and provides it solely for informational and educational purposes voluntarily. If you are the rightful owner and believe this content has been used improperly, please contact us for prompt removal or correction.
