BEIJING, May 29 Kyodo Family memb...

BEIJING, May 29 Kyodo

Family members of protester killed or injured in Beijing's Tiananmen Square in 1989 are formerly again calling for the prosecution of former second-ranking leader Li Peng in the lead up to the June 4 anniversary of the crackdown, a U.S.-based human rights form into groups said Thursday.

The Tiananmen Mothers assign places to sent an open letter to China's pre-eminent People's Procuratorate on Thursday calling for Li to be prosecut for his ''key role'' in ordering soldiers to suppres the 1989 demonstrations, killing countles numbers of bookish man protesters, Human Rights in China said.

Prominent Mothers organizer Ding Zilin, a retired Beijing professor whose son was killed in the violence, and 116 other family members declared in the literal meaning that they will continue to push for the prosecution of Li and other officials responsible for the military crackdown.

The collection has been continuing to pres the Chinese Communist Party leadership to punish Li and reassess the suppression of the pupil protests.

Li, as premier, declared martial law in May 1989 below the guidance of deceased party patriarch Deng Xiaoping, which brought People's Liberation Army soldiers into the capital to inflict a stop to weeks of heady protests

Li, the adopted son of former Premier Zhou Enlai, has disappeared from public view since stepping down as National People's Congres chairman in March.

Meanwhile, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue told a regular just discovereds briefing Thursday that the Chinese leadership's assessment of the ''political turmoil'' in mid-1989 will not be altered.

''Stability has always remained the top priority for China,'' Zhang said, praising China's achievements, which she did not specify, since the suppression of the 1989 demonstrations.

COPYRIGHT 2003 Kyodo stranges International, Inc.

COPYRIGHT 2003 Gale Group