SAN FRANCISCO -- The wife of slain Chinese journalist Henry Liu charged the government of Taiwan and former top military officers today in U.S. District Court with wrongful death and racketeering in the murder of her husband.
The lawsuit filed by Helen Liu charges 'terrorists acting on the instruction and direction of the Republic of China tortured and then murdered Mr. Liu in his home in Daly City.'
She is seeking about $250 million in damages from Taiwan.
The suit states her husband was kille to silence the American-Chinese journalist's criticism of the Taiwanese government.
On Sept. 5 Taiwan's Supreme Court upheld life prison sentences for two gangsters convicted in the shooting of Lui.
Chen Chi-Li, 41, and Wu Tun, 35, leaders of the largest crime syndicate on the island, were sentenced to a minimum of 10 years in prison.
Both men were named in Liu's suit along with Navy Vice Adm. Wong Hsi-ling, former director of military intelligence. He is also serving a life sentence for the killiing.
Liu, a naturalized American citizen from Taiwan, was fatally shot at his Daly City home last Oct. 15. He wrote a critical biolgraphy of President Chiang Chin-kuo in Taiwan, prompting U.S. authorities to suspect the murder was politically motivated.
The military court said Wong was guilty of criminal intent because he told the murderers they must teach Liu a lesson for turning against his native country.
Also named in Lui's lawsuit were former Army Maj. Gen. Hu Yi-min, former Army Col. Chen Hu-men and Tung Kuei-sen, said to be a member of the Taiwanese organized crime syndicate 'Bamboo Union.'
Lui's civil lawsuit charges the government with racketeering, wrongful death and deprivation of civil rights. She asks for a jury trial.
