14 DAY TRIAL // If you remember the very publicized lawsuit of last November, when Yahoo! was pointed fingers at for handing access to email, email records and user identification information over to the Chinese authorities, this might feel like a deja-vu altogether. The first lawsuit was settled out of court with the plaintiffs, the imprisoned dissident's family.
Li Zheng, Zheng Cunzhu and Guo Quan filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court of Northern Carolina for exactly the same reasons, seeking damages for their trouble with the Chinese officials after the Sunnyvale-based company's branch in Hong Kong had violated the user's privacy, PC World reports. The three have found at least 60 more similarly punished by imprisonment by the Chinese authorities, all working for work on free elections, democracy and human rights. At the moment, the additional cases are being kept secret, but will be made known during the trial's discovery case.
Li Zheng has been tortured and imprisoned after working for the China Democracy Party, according to the lawsuit, and so far has served four of his eight-year sentence. He was sent to jail in December 2003, and Zheng Cunzhu, who was found to be connected to Li, is now afraid to go back from California to China, being convinced that once he steps foot in his native country he will be arrested and prosecuted. The investments and personal property he had were lost due to his inability to return.
"By providing Internet user identification information to the People's Republic of China, [the] Defendants knowingly and willfully aided and abetted in the commission of torture and other major abuses violating international law that caused Plaintiffs' severe physical and mental pain and suffering," the lawsuit reads. The Alien Tort Claims Act of 1789 was used for this lawsuit, the same act as the November case.