Sri Lanka must ensure China is held accountable:US Lawyer

He alleged that the novel coronavirus was designed by China to be a “biological weapon of war”, a claim, which seems far-fetched, but Klayman is convinced otherwise

Well there have been a lot of reports. Experts have said this was most likely a bio weapons leak. But in the American system you know once the case is filed and it gets past preliminary motions you can get discovery you can get documents

You know what’s interesting is that the country which reportedly has the most promising vaccine is Israel. And why does Israel have that? It’s because it has been planning for a biological attack in the Middle East for a long time

The coronavirus has killed more than 20,000 people around the world and infected more than 350,000 others, including more than 100 people in Sri Lanka. The virus was first detected in Wuhan, China and began to spread rapidly around the world. As China celebrates the eradication of the virus from its soil, there are growing calls for China to be held accountable for the suffering undergone by so many countries as a result of the virus. A prominent lawyer based in the United States has filed a US$20 trillion lawsuit against China and now he says countries like Sri Lanka should do likewise.

In an Exclusive interview with Daily Mirror, Larry Klayman, a former federal prosecutor under the administration of President Ronald Reagan, said he was willing to work with Sri Lankans and others to build international pressure on China.  

Larry Klayman, his advocacy group Freedom Watch and Buzz Photos, a Texas company which lost about $50,000 and had to lay off employees because of the public health crisis, filed the lawsuit in the US District Court for the Northern District of Texas.

He alleged that the novel coronavirus was designed by China to be a “biological weapon of war", a claim, which seems far-fetched, but Klayman is convinced otherwise.

In the lawsuit he seeks damages and equitable relief arising out of the “creation and release, accidental or otherwise, of a variation of coronavirus known as COVID-19 by the People's Republic of China and its agencies and officials as a biological weapon in violation of China's agreements under international treaties, and recklessly or otherwise allowing its release from the Wuhan Institute of Virology into the city of Wuhan, China, in Hubei Province, by among other acts, failing to prevent the Institute's personnel from becoming infected with the bioweapon and carrying it into the surrounding community and proliferation into the United States”.

Q So you are convinced that the coronavirus is a biological weapon which was being manufactured by the Chinese authorities and probably got out by accident? How can you prove this?
Well there have been a lot of reports. Experts have said this was most likely a bio weapons leak. But in the American system you know once the case is filed and it gets past preliminary motions you can get discovery you can get documents. And again, I suspect that our intelligence agencies and the FBI know what the cause was so we can get them here (in court). Well we will seek to get them here. But that you know it's an uphill battle. And the theory is that there is no immunity for this Chinese government because what we believe they created was a biological weapon and it escaped probably accidentally but still they are responsible for what went on coz such weapons are outlawed by various
international conventions.

Q Where in China do you think this biological weapon was created?
In the Wuhan Institute of Virology. That's the only bio weapons lab in China. After the virus was out they locked down the city. They put a cover on everything that went on and they didn't reveal what went on for a long time.

Q So if such a weapon existed why were US intelligence agencies silent till something happened?
Well, you have to ask ourselves, what have our intelligence agencies been doing. They must have known about this sooner, did they inform President Trump. Did they inform other governments of what was going on?  So there are lots of issues here. We filed another lawsuit the other day on that as well. Under the Freedom of Information Act to get documentation to find out when the NSA, CIA Director of National Intelligence defence intelligence agencies knew. They had to have known what went on in China. Why did they hold back that information from| the American people?

Q But do you think the Trump administration will actually take this lawsuit seriously? Would anyone? If this is true shouldn’t the US Government be doing something?
You're right. You're right. And that's regrettable. Recently he (President Trump) praised the President of China. You know, China basically has the United States in a box because we get a lot of the medication from China and other things and that's why I think he's not being aggressive. And I suspect that you'll actually find the American Justice Department defending China in a lawsuit.

Q Defending China?
Yes. That is usually how it works. That's an outrage. They will find a way to defend China. That's the way it works under all administrations in our system of justice. I'm very pro-American I'm not unpatriotic. This is why I do what I do. I'm an American in the sense of what our Founding Fathers wanted this country to be. But our justice system is totally broken. It's not corrupt. But you know these judges are political. They don't want to stick their necks out. The Justice Department will not take strong action and they'll wind up defending China. Believe me they will. So I don't expect their help.

Q So is there any point in this lawsuit?
If we get a good judge, and there are some out there that will let this case go forward. It's quite a legitimate case. It's quite valid.  You know you cannot prevent judges who make decisions based on politics. You can't prevent that. You just pray that you get someone who is honest. But it's worthwhile making the point. And you know what alternative is there. If the people can't exercise their rights in a court of law and the alternative is something I don't want to see, which is civil unrest violence, revolution. In this country gun sales have skyrocketed. People are trying to buy guns in a lot of states. They know that the people are going to be in the streets at some point and they want to defend themselves. This is a very dangerous situation. So you know you pray that you'll get a judge who isn't a yes man.

And China has billions of dollars of assets invested in the United States. If we get a jury verdict we can attach those assets and they should have to pay. You know the Senate passed a bill for two trillion US dollars of aid to help Americans recover from the impact of the virus. Why should the American people have to pay for that? Why should Sri Lankans pay or the Indians pay? Throughout the world our governments have failed us and it is time for the people to rise up peacefully and legally.

Q But what can Sri Lanka do? You know Sri Lanka depends a lot on Chinese financial assistance.
What they should do is what I have done and Freedom Watch has done. We have more than 500 people who have signed the petition as part of the case. Nobody doubts that the Chinese are good people and it's not against the Chinese people but the Chinese government. Since they engineered this virus they know how to cure it potentially. You know what's interesting is that the country which reportedly has the most promising vaccine is Israel. And why does Israel have that? It’s because it has been planning for a biological attack in the Middle East for a long time. And it also has a very good intelligence service much better than the American one.

Q But so does America and yet America seems to have been caught off guard if this virus was actually being manufactured in China.

Well you have to ask yourself the question why since 9/11 has the United States not prepared for this? We knew this was coming at some point. And we did nothing. In fact you know we'd rather fight over removing presidents from office than actually doing something that is more important. The government bears the responsibility for diverting from important issues to political manoeuvers and tactics. So there's lots of blame to cast but the people now need to rise up. They should rise up in Sri Lanka. They should rise up in the US. They should rise up in India and Europe, in Italy because they have really been sold out by their governments. The governments have not been protecting their interests. Because we could get into a situation where you know we have martial law declared, even Trump's going along with that to some extent. And once you go that route, once people become dependent on the government to this degree, it's really hard to go back. There are lots of ramifications for this.