China angry over suit

NEW YORK, SEPT. 3. China is demanding that U.S. officials dismiss a federal civil lawsuit charging a high-ranking official with human rights abuses stemming from the 1989 military crackdown that killed hundreds of student protesters in Tiananmen Square.

The lawsuit was filed on Monday in federal district court in Manhattan by five participants in the Tiananmen Square democracy movement. The suit was brought against Mr. Li Peng, the country's Prime Minister at the time and now the Chairman of the National People's Congress.

Chinese officials blamed the U.S. Government for not properly protecting Mr. Li from having a court summons served to him while he was visiting New York.

A process server handed the summons to a State Department employee who was guarding him. Though the State Department later said it could not accept such papers for foreign officials, a federal judge in Manhattan had ruled earlier that Mr. Li could be served through his guards.

- New York Times

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Section  : International
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