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Academic faces Chinese lawsuit for exposing human rights abuses in Xinjiang
Source: Washington Post
Academic faces Chinese lawsuit for exposing human rights abuses in Xinjiang
By Eva Dou
March 9, 2021 at 11:30 p.m. EST
Beijing has targeted a high-profile U.S.-based researcher whose work has been critical to exposing human rights abuses in China’s northwest, with state media reporting he is being sued by companies in the Xinjiang region.
In a telephone interview from his home in Minnesota on Tuesday night, Adrian Zenz said he believed the lawsuit was a sign that U.S. economic sanctions on the region were having a significant effect. He said Beijing was probably seeking to create a chilling effect on other researchers doing similar work.
“It is the first admission that they really are suffering major economic losses,” Zenz said. “Suing an academic — there is an element of desperation in there.”
The lawsuit comes as Zenz and other researchers have been building a case that Beijing’s treatment of ethnic minorities in Xinjiang meets the definition of “genocide” under the Geneva Conventions.
-snip-
Zenz does not really have to worry about the lawsuit if he stays out of China, said Donald Clarke, a law professor at George Washington University. But he may have to hire a lawyer if the Xinjiang companies try to seek overseas enforcement of a judgment against him.
-snip-
By Eva Dou
March 9, 2021 at 11:30 p.m. EST
Beijing has targeted a high-profile U.S.-based researcher whose work has been critical to exposing human rights abuses in China’s northwest, with state media reporting he is being sued by companies in the Xinjiang region.
In a telephone interview from his home in Minnesota on Tuesday night, Adrian Zenz said he believed the lawsuit was a sign that U.S. economic sanctions on the region were having a significant effect. He said Beijing was probably seeking to create a chilling effect on other researchers doing similar work.
“It is the first admission that they really are suffering major economic losses,” Zenz said. “Suing an academic — there is an element of desperation in there.”
The lawsuit comes as Zenz and other researchers have been building a case that Beijing’s treatment of ethnic minorities in Xinjiang meets the definition of “genocide” under the Geneva Conventions.
-snip-
Zenz does not really have to worry about the lawsuit if he stays out of China, said Donald Clarke, a law professor at George Washington University. But he may have to hire a lawyer if the Xinjiang companies try to seek overseas enforcement of a judgment against him.
-snip-
Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/china-sanctions-uighurs-xinjiang/2021/03/10/dd57f8c8-814a-11eb-be22-32d331d87530_story.html
