On December 10, Hao Jinsong, a Chinese scholar of the law,
brought in an indictment against China's State Forestry
Administration (SFA) to the Beijing Second Intermediate People's
Court. His suit refers to the dispute over the alleged South China
Tiger. The court said that the case would be filed in a week.
A farmer in Shaanxi Province claimed to have taken pictures of
the South China Tiger this October. A controversy about the
authenticity of those pictures followed their Internet posting.
Meanwhile the farmer and the forestry bureau of Shaanxi Province,
as well as the State Forestry Administration, have become hot
topics for public debate, according to Hao.
Hao applied to the State Forestry Administration for
administrative reconsideration in November, asking that the
administration investigate and prosecute for dereliction of duty by
the local forestry bureau and also charge the farmer with
counterfeiting. Hao also insisted that the picture verification
should have been entrusted to professional institutions chosen by
the SFA.
The administration dismissed Hao's application on November 26,
stating that the declaration released by the forestry bureau of
Shaanxi Province indicating the existence of the South China Tiger
in the province did not have any tangible impact on Hao's rights
and duties.
The SFA would not verify the pictures of the South China Tiger,
a spokesman for the administration said at a press conference in
Beijing on December 4. "The administration has sent an expert group
to Shaanxi Province to conduct an investigation on the tiger
without verifying the pictures. They are not responsible," said
Hao.
"I am now focusing my attention on the public's legal awareness
rather than those tiger pictures. I want to prove that we can
arouse our government's awareness of accountability and our legal
awareness through judicial procedures,”'Hao told the
Procuratorial Daily.
"The court will file the case. Although I can not predict the
final results, I believe that other people will continue the
judicial procedures even if I fail," Hao stated firmly.
(China.org.cn by Yang Xi, December 12, 2007)