The Complete Illegality of the Jiang Regime's Persecution of Falun Gong
Preface: "Wherever the Party points, that''s where we fight," and an archer that never misses
In Mainland China, in the fifties, there was a famous political slogan, "Wherever the Party points, that''s where we fight." After the "Cultural Revolution," the entire society lost confidence in the Party. An unknown genius changed this slogan to "Wherever the Party fights, that's where we point."
There's also another story about an archer who, whenever he shot an arrow, was able to hit the bull's eye. A bystander asked him what his secret was. He replied, "Shoot the arrow first. Then draw the bull's eye later."
In Mainland China, ruled by a dictatorship, the multitude of political campaigns of suppression, for example "the great Cultural Revolution," "the suppression of counterrevolutionaries," "the movement against the three evils," "the movement against the five evils," "anti-rightwing," the June 4th 1989 slaughter of hundreds of protesters in Tiananmen Square, and today''''s persecution of Falun Gong--none of these movements orcampaigns have had any legal foundation. The highest government executive body, the National People''s Congress, and all the law enforcement agencies, from top to bottom, are just manifestations of the dictator''s personal will, so the Party can shoot the arrow first then draw the bull''s eye later. Discussions of whether Falun Gong is "legal" or "illegal" are simply meaningless.
Nevertheless, this time it''s different. With the current world situation and political climate in China, in order to embellish China''s officially stated "reform and open policy" and the much publicized theme of "managing the country under the rule of law," in order to find excuses and a basis for the suppression of Falun Gong, and to deceive the entire world''''s media with the slogan "rule of law," the suppressor has exploited the entire country''s propaganda machinery. Instead of using the Red Guards and farmers'' barns as were used during the Cultural Revolution, or the police batons used to violently control past riots, the suppressor now uses policemen, prisons, forced labor camps, brainwashing centers, electric-shock batons and cruelty to imprison and torture several hundred thousand Falun Gong practitioners on a long term basis without any legal procedures whatsoever. One thousand plus people have died because of the persecution. Countless people have suffered mental breakdowns due to severe torture. Countless people have been forced to leave their homes and move from place to place in order to escape being captured and tortured. Over one hundred million Falun Gong practitioners and several hundred millions family members of practitioners have been living under pressure and fear for several years. Institutes at different levels in the Party and in the government, the army, schools at different levels, scientific research institutes, news media, business enterprises, public security offices, courts, the Procuratorate [a unique legal system in China dealing with government employees and Party members], prisons, detention centers, forced labor camps, and even prisoners or detainees in detention centers and forced labor camps, have all been forced to take part in the persecution and become accomplices either willingly or unwillingly, committing crimes of all different levels of depravity. One quarter of the nation''s resources have been used to keep this massive and lengthy persecution going. This has therefore brought unprecedented catastrophes to the nation and to its people.
In other words, although this persecution is totally and absolutely illegal, the suppressor has been attempting to show a façade of "rule-of-law" and "legality." In addition to constantly coming up with new "legal grounds" and "laws" to justify the persecution, the architect of the persecution has also deceived the entire world about its legality. Therefore, the author has no choice but to patiently explain the total and absolute illegality of this persecution based on the laws that existed in China before the persecution began.
The True Nature of the Persecution and Its Inherent Illegality: Employing Bully Tactics and Manipulating the Judicial System to Outlaw What the Dictator Decides to be Improper Thought
First, I would like to talk about the true purpose of the persecution.
The true purpose of the persecution is to destroy the practice, ideology and belief system of Falun Gong and Falun Gong practitioners.
The ways used to destroy the practice, ideology and belief system have been first, to confiscate and destroy Falun Gong books, and video/audio materials, then to activate all propaganda machinery to bombard the entire country with defamation and slander of Falun Gong and its founder. People not only miss the truth about Falun Gong; they also have become hateful toward Falun Gong due to the media''s slander. In order to achieve this goal and in an attempt to completely destroy the reputations of Falun Gong practitioners, the suppressor resorted to staging the "Tiananmen immolation," shaking people up the whole world over, and cooking up a series of tragic cases of "suicide" and "murder" with blame falsely attributed to Falun Gong.
Comparatively speaking, the "mission" to destroy Falun Gong practitioners has been a lot more difficult, for there are only two ways. One is to "transform" practitioners from believing in Falun Gong to agreeing with the suppressor''s "labeling" and "banning" of Falun Gong. The second is to physically eliminate practitioners whose ways of thinking could not be transformed. This includes two aspects, "torture deaths count as suicide," and long and unlimited terms of imprisonment.
Thus, the true nature of the persecution is using force and the "laws" as tools to change people''s thoughts.
Anyone with a little understanding of the law knows that the law can only deal with people''s behavior and the consequence of people''s behavior. Laws are not meant to control peoples'' thoughts. Jiang Zemin has abused the law in his attempts to control peoples'' thoughts, attempting to control issues that are not at all within the scope of the law. Jiang''s abuse of the legal system shows how the persecution was illegal from the very beginning.
Jiang Expropriated the Power of the Entire Nation to Satisfy his Personal Will To Carry Out The Persecution
An incident widely reported and exaggerated by China''s official media as the "siege of Zhongnanhai" took place on April 25, 1999, when ten thousand Falun Gong practitioners quietly appealed to the government. At the time, the then Chinese Communist Party General Secretary, Jiang Zemin, wrote to the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau, and other pertinent government officials, "If the Party cannot defeat Falun Gong, it will be the laughing stock of the whole world." This document was passed around as an internal document, passed down to all levels of government offices. On June 7, 1999, Jiang gave a speech at a Political Bureau''s meeting, claiming that the Zhongnanhai appeal on April 25 was the most serious incident since the political turmoil of 1989. On June 13 of 1999, the content of his speech was passed around secretly, and internally to the Chinese Communist Party. On July 19, in a high level meeting, Jiang announced the policy of suppressing and persecuting Falun Gong. The next morning the official campaign of unified action and nationwide arrests of Falun Gong "assistants" and confiscation of their personal property began. The curtain was raised on a bloody persecution targeting the more than one hundred million Falun Gong practitioners.
This persecution, which wastes people''s time and money, faces an awkward dilemma that is damaging to the suppressor and others alike. It was not the Party''s joint decision, nor was it approved following any normal government procedure. Instead, it was totally Jiang''s own personal will, against the advice of all others. Among the then seven members of the Standing Committee of the Politbureau (the locus of power in China''s Communist regime), Jiang was the only one favoring the persecution of Falun Gong.
Perhaps it is difficult for Westerners to understand how one person''s will could overpower the government and the Party. Consider for a moment China''s "reform and open policy" begun some twenty years ago. It gives the illusion of China having made great improvements and gradually trying to be in sync with the international community.
The prosperous surface appearance of the "reform and open policy" can be, for the most part, attributed to the consumer potential of China''''s huge population, which has been created by foreign investors'' imaginations. However, this is not the topic of this article. What this author wants to address here is that, on the surface, China, after the "reform and open policy," may have opened up its economics and markets to a certain degree, yet the dictatorial nature of the political system has not changed one iota. Judging from the fact that Jiang presided as Communist Party General Secretary, president of the nation, and chairman of the Central Military Commission, the phenomenon of three major positions of power being in the hands of one single person was indeed the first in the history of Chinese Communist Party.
In a country with a several-thousand-year history of feudalism, where a legal system and democracy have never been realized, it is possible for a dictator with political and military power to act above the Party and above the government. Therefore he is capable of employing the resources of the entire nation at will. In the era of feudalism, an emperor still had reverence for "heaven" [God] and still had the moral discipline of passing his throne to his descendants. The result of the autocratic and dictatorial Communists advocating "violent revolution," "winning political power by means of weapons and guns," and "the joy of fighting with heaven is beyond measure; the joy of fighting with earth is beyond measure; the joy of fighting with people is beyond measure," is a complete absence of the restraints of the system and of morality.
Since lower level government officials are eager to enhance their political interests; since government officials and law enforcement fear power in the hands of others and hope to maintain their personal vested interests; and since the public still fears another massacre like the Tiananmen June 4 protest and tacitly accept that power is truth, Jiang Zemin, with political and military power in his hands, has manipulated the entire country''s propaganda machine and abused the power in his hands to create this bloody suppression.
A lot of Westerners have been asking, "Why does China persecute Falun Gong?" People in democratic countries can''t imagine all that has gone into this persecution of Falun Gong. How could the "anti-right-wing" movement occur? How about the "great leap forward" and the "great cultural revolution?" After these brutal political campaigns came to an end, the Chinese people realized how ridiculous they were. Yet they happened nevertheless. This is the history of the Chinese Communists: A Party leader has the ability to, at any time, without any justification, usurp the entire country''s power structure and resources to initiate a political struggle, from top to bottom, against the head of the country, a common civilian, or a group.
The Illegality of the Ban and the Orders to Persecute
After the nationwide arrests on June 20, 1999, there was a long editorial published in the Party''s newspaper, The People''s Daily, on June 22, 1999. The Ministry of Civic Affairs sent out a "notice" regarding the banning of the Falun Dafa Research Association. The Ministry of Public Security declared the "six prohibitions" regarding Falun Gong. They marked the beginning of the government''s ban on Falun Gong. Many thought that this represented the entire government''s will and decision. It did not.
We won''t say much about the editorial that appeared in The People''s Daily. Everybody knows that it was just propaganda, but even though an editorial can never be the law, in China, People''s Daily editorials can carry more weight than the law itself.
1 - The Declaration by the Ministry of Civic Affairs Was Ridiculous and Illegal
The organization that the Ministry of Civic Affairs'' banned in its declaration didn''t even officially exist. The Falun Dafa Research Association was originally a branch association of the China Qigong Science Research Association. After leaving the Qigong Science Research Association in 1996, it no longer existed. According to Falun Gong''s website, Minghui, after dropping out of the Qigong Science Research Association, the former Falun Dafa Association applied to be a registered association with the Ministry of Civic Affairs, the Strategically United Action Ministry, the People''s Congress, the Religion Affairs Administration Bureau, the National Physical Education Committee, the National Physical Education Central Bureau, and other government offices. Yet none approved the application. Article 35 of The Constitution of the People''s Republic of China clearly stipulates, "The citizens of the PRC have the right to freedom of speech, publication, assembly, association, parade, and protest."
A qigong or cultivation practice such as Falun Gong has traditionally not needed to have an official organizational status. Fitness activities in the park, for example, qigong practices, Taiji, running, Yangge dancing [a popular folk dance in northern China], and sword dancing have never applied to be registered organizations.
Article 5 [Socialist Legal System, Rule of Law] of the Constitution states:
(1) The state upholds the uniformity and dignity of the socialist legal system.
(2) No law or administrative or local rules and regulations shall contravene the Constitution.
(3) All state organs, the armed forces, all political parties and public
organizations, and all enterprises and undertakings must abide by the Constitution
and the law. All acts in violation of the Constitution and the law must be looked
into.
(4) No organization or individual may enjoy the privilege of being above the
Constitution and the law.
Judging from Article 5, not only was the organization banned by the Ministry of Civic Affairs officially non-existent, the declaration itself was illegal because it was in violation of the Constitution.
Furthermore, even assuming that the declaration by the Ministry of Civic Affairs was valid, what it banned was the "Falun Dafa Research Association," but not Falun Gong itself.
2 - The Ministry of Public Security''s Declaration of "Six Prohibitions" is Unconstitutional
In order to show that the declaration by the Ministry of Public Security was illegal, all we have to do is take a look at the 6 prohibitions themselves. They are:
- It is prohibited for anybody to hang or post banners, pictures, symbols and other tokens in any place oroccasion to promote Falun Dafa (Falun Gong).
- It is prohibited for anybody to distribute books/magazines, video/audio materials and any other means of promoting Falun Gong, in any place or occasion.
- It is prohibited for anybody to gather crowds to do "group practice," "Fa promotion," and other similar Falun Gong activities, in any place or on any occasion.
- It is prohibited for anybody to hold "conferences," "parades," and "demonstrations" that support orpromote Falun Gong by means of "meditation" or "making an appeal."
- It is prohibited to fabricate or distort facts, spread rumors deliberately, or instigate and interfere with the social order with other means.
- It is prohibited for anybody to organize, assemble or lead events that are against government policies.
The declaration bases a person''s guilt on his or her ways of thinking. Everything that is linked to Falun Gong is prohibited. "It is prohibited for anybody to hang or post banners that promote Falun Gong." Implementing such a prohibition is like taking China back to the era of the first emperor of the Qin dynasty, who "burned all books, rounded up dissident scholars and burned them alive." [The notorious tyrant, Qin Shihuang, a Chinese emperor of the Qin Dynasty is known in history for doing this. Visit http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2002/9/16/26548.html to find out more about Qin Shihuang.]
The statement that "It is prohibited for anybody to organize, assemble, or lead events that are against government policies," means that if the government makes a policy, no matter how ridiculous it is, people are not allowed to oppose it.
From these prohibitions, we can see what a joke the judicial system and government claims of "democracy," and "rule by the people" are in China. The declaration, so obviously in violation of the Constitution and depriving people of their freedom of thought and ability to criticize the government, was used as legal grounds for the persecution.
We can explain even further how this declaration is in violation of the Constitution. In addition to violating the aforementioned Article 5 and Article 35, it also violates Article 41 of the Constitution:
Article 41 [Freedom of Speech] of the Constitution stipulates:
(1) Citizens of the People''s Republic of China have the right to criticize and make suggestions to any state organ or functionary. Citizens have the right to make to relevant state organs complaints and charges against, or exposures of, any state organ or functionary for violation of the law or dereliction of duty; but fabrication or distortion of facts for the purpose of libel or frame-up is prohibited.
(2) The state organ concerned must deal with complaints, charges or exposures made by citizens in a responsible manner after ascertaining the facts. No one may suppress such complaints, charges and exposure, or retaliate against the citizens making them.
(3) Citizens who have suffered losses through infringement of their civil rights by any state organ orfunctionary have the right to compensation in accordance with the law.
Rule 8 in "Regulations for Making Appeals" by the State Council of the People''s Republic of China:
"An appellant can take the following appeals to relevant state organs:
- Criticism, suggestions, and requests relating to state organs and the staff of state organs.
- Charges and exposure of dereliction of duty by the staff of state organs
- Charges against actions that infringe on personal civil rights."
Accordingly, the rule declared by the Ministry of Public Security, "It is prohibited for anybody to hold a ''conference,'' ''parade,'' and ''demonstration'' that support or promote Falun Gong by means of ''meditation'' or ''making appeal,''" not only violates the Constitution, but also violates the State Council''s "Regulations for Making Appeals."
3 - "The Legislation by the National People''s Congress" Is a Big Fraud
The preceding two public notices declared the start of the persecution, but they were administrative declarations, not laws. There are also no details of implementation. This is far from the much ballyhooed Party line of "Governing the Country by Rule of Law."
After China adopted the "Open Policy" in the late 1970s to fit in with international society, the "anti-revolutionary" charge in Chinese criminal law was rescinded, making it hard to declare someone guilty because of one''s thoughts. In the entire Criminal Law, the only article which can be used as a legal basis for persecution is Article 300, which states: "(those) who organize and make use of sects, evil cults, orsuperstitions to impede the laws or administrative regulations, can be sentenced to 3 to 7 years in jail; or in cases of extreme severity, the jail term can be greater than 7 years." But this article contains no detailed enforcement regulations and no legal definition of "evil cults." In fact, in international legal circles, "evil cult" is not recognized as a legal term.
It was Jiang Zemin who first called Falun Gong an "evil cult." In October 1999, three months after the persecution started, when being interviewed by the French newspaper Le Figaro, Jiang said, "Falun Gong is an evil cult." On October 26, major Chinese newspapers published Jiang''s speech on their cover pages, and titled the articles "Falun Gong is an evil cult." On October 27, 1999, the Xinhua News Agency published a special comment, with the same title, in which the author quoted an article published in the People''s Daily on the July 22, 1999 to prove Jiang''s speech was "reasonable." The People''s Daily article was full of groundless rumors and was published just to slander Falun Gong.
A few days later, October 30, 1999, the Chinese People''s National Congress passed "The decision to ban evil cult organizations, and to crackdown on evil cult activities" in which it stated "ban without hesitation the evil cult organizations, and severely punish criminal activities organized by evil cults."
One point we see clearly is that Jiang Zemin''s speech naming Falun Gong a cult occurred before the National Congress legislation banning them was passed.
Another point is that according to Article 80, 81 of the Chinese Constitution, which defines the extent of the President''s power, the President of the country has no right to define crimes based on personality, organization, or practice methods. Article 5 of China''s Constitution states: "No organization or individual may enjoy the privilege of being above the Constitution and the law." So without permission or judgment made by the Procurator, the courts, or the National Congress, Jiang Zemin''s pronouncement that "Falun Gong is an evil cult" exceeded his authority.
Neither the National Congress "Decision," nor the later "Interpretation of certain problems in implementing the law dealing with cases about the crimes of evil cult organizations" issued by the Supreme People''s Court and the Supreme People''s Procurator, contain wording that specifically relates to Falun Gong. The definition of "evil cult" in the preceding "Interpretation" is: "An illegal organization that is harmful to society, in the name of religion or Qigong, that is established and whose leaders are deified. It creates and spreads superstitious heretical ideas to confuse and deceive people, and it recruits and controls its members."
From a legal point of view, the definition of "heretical ideas" is very subjective. And at the same time, according to Marxist and Chinese Communist Party ideology, all religions spread "heretical ideas." Still, Falun Gong was not mentioned specifically.
So far, over 6,000 Falun Gong practitioners have been sentenced to prison. Most of the court verdicts used words like "making use of evil cult organizations" to describe the practitioner''s crimes.
When the law "banning evil cults" was implemented, the so-called "guilt" of Falun Gong was never established. Instead, it was based on the opinions expressed in Jiang Zemin''s speech and the pure political propaganda "editorial" in the People''s Daily. It was not based on any process of law or independent analysis.
This is to say, except for Jiang Zemin and the People''s Daily, no government or other body had deemed Falun Gong to be an evil cult. The persecutors deceived the Chinese people and the international community into believing that the government had declared Falun Gong to be an evil cult, and that the persecution of Falun Gong was legal. In actuality, the persecution is absolutely illegal.
It was only Jiang Zemin who had condemned the practice as a cult. And after he had done so, he caused a law outlawing cults to come into effect.
As unlikely as it may seem, this is in fact what happened. The persecution has now gone on for over four years. China''s courts have tried and sentenced many Falun Gong practitioners to jail and forced labor based on Jiang Zemin''s speech and the commentary in the People''s Daily, not on any of the true laws of the land. This is the reality of Jiang Zemin''s dictatorship. Whatever Jiang declares is above all the laws. To give his edicts an air of legitimacy, he simply fashions new laws designed to accommodate his whims.
4 - "610 Office"- Comparable to Nazi Germany''s Gestapo and the Soviet Union''s KGB
The "610 office" was set up on June 10, 1999 before the formal persecution started, hence it''s name. It is the executive office of the "Dealing with the Falun Gong Issue Central Leading Group" and a standing office of the "Political and Judiciary Committee of the Central Communist Party Committee." It''s function is to "direct and coordinate the Public Security Bureau, the Procurator, legislators, courts, Security Departments to detect, arrest, prosecute, and investigate all activities concerning Falun Gong."
When the persecution started, the " 610 office" became a ministry-level organization, and thousands of subordinate "610 offices" in the provincial, city, and other levels of government were set up with a million employees and a very large budget.
The various levels of the "610 offices" form an independent but integrated system that has authority over the Chinese Communist Party, every level of government, and the judicial system. Each level is responsible only to its upper level "610 office." You will never find any legal basis for the foundation of the "610 office" no matter how you search through all the Chinese laws. The 610 Office can only be compared to the notorious Gestapo of Nazi Germany, the ruthless KGB of the former Soviet Union, and the "Cultural Revolution Central Leading Group," a much feared branch of the Chinese government that existed in the time of Mao''s bloody Great Cultural Revolution.
The "610 office" exists only to carry out the persecution, Jiang''s failed political campaign to exterminate Falun Gong. It tramples citizens'' rights and makes a laughing stock of China''s judicial system. It''s a slap on the face to all in the legal profession and those who think that China is operating by the rule of law. It reminds us that law is only a convenient term for decorative purposes. Law is too complicated with too many procedures and technical details. An "office" is much easier to manipulate than any law, and can be used to benefit the dictator.
5. Forced Labor Camps: the advantage of a "war of quick decision"- an illegal solution posed as a "legal" one
After the "610 office" was set up, one of its major functions was assigning the sentencing of Falun Gong practitioners to forced labor camps. Although the National Congress passed a law, it is far from adequate as a persecution tool. A law involves too many parties, and it even allows defense for the accused. That procedure was too "cumbersome" and "slow", as it didn''t fit the dictator''s intention of quickly eradicating Falun Gong.
Thus, forced labor became the "highest administrative punishment" in China, and became one of the major tools used to persecute Falun Gong practitioners.
The Chinese forced labor system started in the 1950s, shortly after the Communist Party had come to power. It aimed to reform those who were "idlers" and those who belonged to the former "exploiting class" to do physical labor, and so turn them into "new socialist people". Later it evolved into an "administrative measure to forcibly reform the people who are educated through hard labor" and "a method to deal with the internal conflicts between people."
On January 21, 1982, the Chinese State Council issued "Proposed Regulations of Forced Labor." Article 10 of the regulation defined who could be sent to a forced labor camp as follows:
"1. Anti-revolutionary, anti-communist party, anti-socialist members whose crimes are not cause for criminal prosecution;
2. Those involved in murdering, robbing, raping, or committing arson in groups, but whose crimes are not cause for criminal prosecution.
3. Those who have committed crimes of immoral behavior, prostitution, stealing, or fraud that are not severe enough for criminal prosecution, and did not correct themselves even after being persuaded many times;
4. Those involved in group fighting, instigating violence, making trouble that disturbs the stability of society, but are not enough for criminal prosecution.
5. Those who are employed but refuse to work for a long time, or damage the work rules and thus disturb production, work, education or scientific research, and do not listen to the persuasion or could not be stopped;
6. Those who instigate others to break laws or commit crimes, but whose crimes are not serious enough for criminal prosecution. "
The dictator tried very hard to seek legal justification for the persecution, but the actual persecution process relied on the outdated "Proposed Regulations of Forced Labor," which is not a law and in which "anti-revolutionary, anti-communist party, anti-socialist" people are considered to be criminals. Since forced labor is an administrative measure, it does not need legal procedures. It can be carried out with a "forced labor ticket" from the "Forced Labor Management Committee" controlled by the Chinese Communist Party Secretary. So, prosecutors, formal charges, lawyers, evidence, trials, judges, appeals, etc, are not necessary. See how fast, easy, and effective it is?
As to which of the preceding six articles Falun Gong practitioners have violated, no proof is needed. As the author knows, in the early days of the persecution, many detention centers and forced labor camps simply filled in the "crime" column with "Falun Gong", which is later changed to "disturbing the social security."
In a period when "president Jiang Zemin" was also the military head and the Communist Party head, he dictated to the whole country. Everyone simply had to follow his orders, or else. How could you expect the "law enforcement officers" to follow the law?
6. Brainwashing "Classes" and Kangaroo Courts Funded by Public Money
Since the second year of the persecution, Falun Gong practitioners have accounted for fifty to ninety-five percent of the people detained at the various labor camps in the country. To date, more than one hundred thousand practitioners have been sentenced to labor camps. However, this number is still far smaller than the total number of Falun Gong practitioners. Even though the authorities have utilized all the jails, labor camps, detention centers, psychiatric hospitals, and drug rehabilitation centers to detain and persecute practitioners, they still cannot achieve their purpose of forcing all the practitioners to give up their belief in Falun Dafa. Therefore, brainwashing centers are set up nationwide to help realize their goal.
Of course, the government does not call such facilities brainwashing centers, but refers to them as "learning classes," "transforming classes" or "legal system education classes," etc. Brainwashing centers are located within schools, government compounds, hotels or reception locations; sometimes they are constructed from scratch. The abducted practitioners are taken to the above-mentioned locations to participate in the so-called "education." The so-called "education" period can be likened to a jail-stay, as practitioners lose all their freedom and basic human rights. The truth is, practitioners receive the same brutal treatment in brainwashing centers as they do in jails and labor camps.
The reason I use the word "abducted" is because the behavior of forcibly removing and detaining citizens without any legal procedures, restraining their human rights and even torturing them, is no different from the behavior of kidnappers.
People in the brainwashing centers not only lose their physical freedom but also have money extorted from them or their families. All the detainees have to pay so-called "tuition fees," "living expenses," etc. There are so many detained practitioners that there are not enough police or government officers to handle all of them. The detainees need to be accompanied by relatives, co-workers, or leaders from the work unit. The responsibility of these monitors is to watch the practitioner and they have to pay living expenses to the brainwashing center as well. Hence everyday people are dragged into the persecution of Falun Gong.
Assuming all kinds of names, the brainwashing centers are in fact kangaroo courts set up for the purpose of annihilating Falun Gong. They follows no laws and trample the laws of the country.
Operating expenses of these kangaroo courts established by the "610 Office" are borne by the government, and are ultimately paid for by hard earned money from the taxpayers. According to some overseas media, in December 2001, 4.2 billion Yuan was used to establish brainwashing centers around the country. Internal documents of the Beijing Financial Bureau indicated that, in the first ten months of 2001, 32 million Yuan was used to deal with Falun Gong issue; in June 2001, the Haidian District of Beijing spent 3.6 million Yuan to form brainwashing classes. Similarly in 2001, the Shapingba District of Chongqing City spent 2.02 million Yuan on Falun Gong issues. All of the information above is very hard to obtain but it represents only a tiny portion of the total expense. If we include all the expenses in persecuting Falun Gong for the last four years, and add up the money spent in persuading members of the United Nations Human Rights Commission to keep silent on the persecution, the cost of undertaking and maintaining this persecution becomes even more of an astronomical figure.
The responsible parties'' behavior during this persecution has violated the following articles in the Chinese Constitution:
Article 37 [Personal Freedom]
(1) The personal freedom of citizens of the People''s Republic of China is inviolable.
(2) No citizen may be arrested except with the approval or by decision of a people''s procuratorate or by decision of a people''s court, and arrests must be made by a public
security organ.
(3) Unlawful deprivation or restriction of citizens'' personal freedom by detention or other means is prohibited; and unlawful search of the person of citizens is prohibited.
Article 38 [Personal Dignity]
The personal dignity of citizens of the People''s Republic of China is inviolable. Insult, libel, false charge, orframe-up directed against citizens by any means is prohibited.
Article 39 [Home]
The home of citizens of the People''s Republic of China is inviolable. Unlawful search of, or intrusion into, a citizen''s home is prohibited.
In order to justify their persecution of Falun Gong in front of the world, Jiang''s regime had to make an effort to come up with a "reason" based on some "law." However, when it comes to executing persecution orders, Jiang''s regime uses all means possible to annihilate Falun Gong. Everything in people''s lives and work, from government officers'' promotion, hiring or laying-off, granting bonuses, positions of leaders; from enrollment and test scores of students, the hiring of police officers to the sentencing of criminals--it is all directly connected to the results of persecuting practitioners. The intention of Jiang is very obvious, which is to get rid of Falun Gong. Secret orders such as "defame Falun Gong, physically destroy them and financially bankrupt them," and "torture deaths of practitioners are counted as suicide and police can directly cremate them without investigating" have been passed down from the top. On the one hand, Jiang''s regime promises to reward people who persecute Falun Gong; on the other hand, Jiang''s regime threatens to subject whoever does not follow orders to severe consequences. This is why so many people were dragged into this persecution.
Let''s use the labor camp as an example. The "quota" to transform practitioners is a fixed number that must be achieved regardless what methods are used; otherwise the police will lose their jobs or their bonuses from the work unit. Whoever does well in transforming practitioners is rewarded both financially and with promotions. "Transformation" means that the practitioner must defame his belief and also help police to transform other practitioners.
Police can easily get criminals involved in the persecution. In Chinese jails and labor camps, there is a sentence reduction system in place. In some cases, a long jail term can be reduced by thirty percent or more. For example, by law, up to thirty percent of the labor camp detainees may have their sentences reduced. Every six months, the police evaluate detainees and determine who may be granted sentence reductions.
The best reward for a criminal is to leave the labor camp as soon as possible. Therefore the criminals at detention centers, jails, and labor camps are induced to work together with police to set up kangaroo courts to satisfy their personal interests. The easiest way to have their sentence reduced, is to assist the guards in "transforming" Falun Gong practitioners. The tortures used are indescribably cruel and inhumane, with the ultimate goal of eliminating Falun Gong and its practitioners.
With more and more so-called "horror stories" cooked up and aired on national TV to slander and frame Falun Gong, Falun Gong practitioners have been treated as inferior people in society. If a practitioner and his family members were killed because of his belief in Falun Gong, then their distant relatives may not even dare to take a look at their corpse or inquire about the cause of their deaths. In some cases, even the leaders of street offices have the authority to determine the life or death of practitioners, totally disregarding the basic human rights bestowed to citizens by the Chinese Constitution.
The defaming and slandering propaganda of Falun Gong and the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners has employed all means possible, including illegal arrests, detention, interrogation, removal from government occupations, dismissal of students from school, public humiliation of practitioners, deprivation of human rights, restriction of the freedom, forced brainwashing, salary/pension deduction or suspension, confiscation of private property, physical torture, and the coercion of practitioners to sign "confessions" and to renounce and defame Falun Gong.
The above behaviors violate the following Chinese laws:
- Constitution
- Criminal Law
- Administration Penalty Law
- Administration Appeal Law
- Minors Protection Law
- Women Protection Law
- Education Law
- Civil Law
- Labor Law
- Nationality Law
- Copyright Law
- Judges'' Law
- Prosecutors'' Law
- People''s Police Law
- Jail Law
- Demonstration and Parade Law
- Labor Education Law
- Appeal Rule
- Guidelines for the Use of Weapons by Chinese Police
- Publishing Guideline
- TV Broadcasting Guideline
At the same time, they also violate the following conventions that China has signed:
- Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide
- International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
- Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment
- International Covenant on Economic Social and Cultural Rights
- Convention on the Rights of the Child
It may seem strange that there are violations of the Minors Protection Law and Convention on the Rights of the Child. There are instances where practitioners'' children were refused entrance to school, or arrested with their parents. In some cases the infants and mothers were tortured to death together. The crimes committed in this persecution are just too many to list.
To summarize, every aspect of this persecution, from the underlying reasons for it to the implementation of the persecution orders, is completely against Chinese law. The persecution of Falun Gong has violated countless laws and the damage caused by the persecution cannot be measured.
We need to bring the main person responsible, Jiang Zemin, to justice.
REFERENCE:
http://www.oefre.unibe.ch/law/icl/ch00000.html
Originally published at
http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2003/8/16/39180.html
http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2003/8/17/39214.html
http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2003/8/18/39234.html
