Published 15:35 IST, March 24th 2020
Class action lawsuit filed in Texas against China for creation of 'bioweapon' COVID-19
A class-action suit has been filed in a district court in the United States seeking US$20 trillion from China for the creation and release of COVID-19 by China
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A class-action suit has been filed in a district court in the United States seeking US$20 trillion from China for the “creation and release, accidental or otherwise, of the virus known as COVID-19 by China and its agencies”. The petition says that China created and released the COVID-19 virus as a “biological weapon in violation of China’s agreements under the international law”.
The suit that was moved before the District Court in the Northern District of Texas has been filed by three parties — Buzz Photos, a self-styled watchdog group Freedom Watch Inc and its founder Larry Klayman. The plea says that China violated multiple international treaties by recklessly allowing the release of the virus from the Wuhan Institute of Virology. China failed in preventing the Institute’s personnel from becoming infected with the “bioweapon” and carrying it into the surrounding community and eventual proliferation into the United States.
Whistleblowers 'disappeared'
The plaintiffs also allege that the doctors and researchers who were trying to spread the word in China about the virus had all either been arrested or had “disappeared”. It was finally Dr. Li Wending of Wuhan who finally violated the Chinese censorship and raised the alarm to the world outside. Subsequently, Dr. Li was summoned by the Chinese authorities and “silenced”. On February 6, Dr. Li died of the virus himself.
Army's hand?
The suit also mentions Major General Chen Wei of China’s People’s Liberation Army who played a leading role within China during the fight against the SARS outbreak in 2003 and the development of the Ebola vaccine in 2014. The plaintiffs state “curiously, in an attempt to put the COVID-19 disease ‘back in the bottle’, Major General Chen injected herself and six other members of her staff with a potential vaccine which had not yet been tested on animals”. This use of a possible vaccine on herself is "consistent with desperation and her nation’s guilt that the Chinese military caused this burgeoning national and world catastrophe”.
There are a total of six cause of actions alleged by the plaintiffs against China — Aiding and abetting risk of death, provision of material support to terrorists, conspiracy to cause injury of US citizens, Negligence, Wrongful death and Assault and Battery. The plea asks for a jury trial to be conducted and the amount of compensatory damages to be decided.
15:35 IST, March 24th 2020