On March 27, 2026, CJA filed an amicus brief in the Supreme Court of the United States in support of victims of religious persecution from China. Cisco Systems, a US-based technology company, allegedly created custom technologies for the Chinese Communist Party to surveil members of the Falun Gong religion, ultimately facilitating their unlawful arrest, detention, and torture.
For 34 years, survivors of the most serious human rights abuses have used the Torture Victim Protection Act (TVPA) to seek truth, justice, and accountability. The TVPA has served an essential function by enabling federal courts to impose liability on those responsible for serious human rights abuses, providing redress to survivors, deterring future violations, and ensuring that the United States does not serve as a safe haven for human rights abusers.
One of the issues in this case is whether aiders and abettors of human rights violations can be held liable under the TVPA or the Alien Tort Statute.
In its amicus brief, CJA argues that secondary liability under the TVPA – including aiding and abetting – is critical for ensuring that victims of the most serious rights abuses have a remedy in U.S. courts. As set out in our brief, the TVPA’s phrasing and legislative history make clear that Congress intended for the TVPA to include liability for aiders and abettors.
The brief also argues that without aiding and abetting liability, countless victims would go without justice while those who played a role in human rights violations enjoy impunity in the United States. This is exemplified by the cases that CJA has successfully brought for aiding and abetting human rights violations, including cases against Armando Fernández-Larios, a former member of a Chilean death squad, and Alvaro Rafael Saravia Merino, who coordinated the 1980 assassination of Saint Oscar Romero, the then-Archbishop of San Salvador, El Salvador.
CJA Amicus Brief