A fascinating report by a insider with direct knowledge of how a few high level Communist officials direct the persecution of Falun Gong and other groups through regular government bodies like the MSS and extra-legal organizations like the 610 office.
Mr Long Guande is being held far beyond his original sentence, despite his poor health and repeated requests from his family to release him.
Falun Gong Practitioner Ms. Chen Xiumei was just arrested on January 8, 2009 and she has already been abused to the point she cannot walk or take care of herself.
On the tenth anniversary of the "April 25th" peaceful appeal, Mr. Fengzhi Li, former intelligence officer of China's Ministry of State Security (MSS), who recently publicly announced his withdrawal from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) using his real name, was invited to attend a public hearing held in the European Parliament on April 25, 2009. The topic of the hearing was religious freedom in China and the ten-year persecution of Falun Gong. Mr. Li addressed the hearing through an international telephone connection. He pointed out that the CCP has never stopped its persecution of religious groups, particularly Falun Gong. It has mobilized all the state resources, invested unrestricted funds, and overridden the law to conduct this brutal suppression.
The following is the speech by Fengzhi Li:
I worked for China's intelligence system for 14 years, from 1990 to 2004. Since 2004 till today, I have been paying close attention to China's situation. Here I solemnly testify to the following:
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has hijacked China and placed the Party's interests above that of the nation and the Chinese people. It does everything it can to maintain its dictatorship. China's human rights situation, especially the situation regarding religious freedom, has been deteriorating for years. With the exception of a few state-sanctioned groups, there is almost no religious freedom. The inhumane persecution of Falun Gong and house church groups has never stopped and is worsening. In order to control, suppress, and persecute religious groups, the CCP uses all available institutions and forces, including the public and national security systems, the diplomatic system, propaganda, non-Communist groups, administrative systems, and even low-level neighborhood committees, non-governmental organizations, and pro-Communist groups overseas. There is virtually no limit placed on the funds and resources needed. The persecution of spiritual groups such as Falun Gong has gone beyond the legal system and the organizational framework in China.
Ever since its establishment, China's Ministry of State Security (MSS) has always participated in the persecution of religious groups and individuals, and is getting involved more deeply and more widely. Politically, the MSS always places the CCP's interests above all else. In many circulars, there are specific requirements about this. Political education, brainwashing, and control are evident everywhere. Administration-wise, as of 2004, the MSS had about 100,000 official employees and at least the same number of unofficial employees. The majority of them were used to maintain so-called "social stability," including the tasks of suppressing religious groups such as Falun Gong. This is especially true for many city-level MSS agencies because they do not have much work actually related to "state security." The majority of its manpower and resources are used for this purpose.
The branches of the MSS that participate in the persecution of religious groups such as Falun Gong include counter-espionage agencies, technical detection agencies, technical security agencies, domestic security agencies, foreign intelligence agencies, intelligence research and reporting agencies, internal research institutes, and sometimes ad-hoc special task forces. The methods that the MSS uses on the religious and human rights groups include intelligence collection, technical detection, human detection, case investigations done independently or in collaboration with other security agencies, interrogation, threats, coercion, detention and torture of individuals.
Intelligence collection is done both inside and outside of China. They infiltrate religious groups such as Falun Gong and incite defection from within. They use their network to gather relevant information. They infiltrate the major governmental agencies and get close to political leaders in those countries that support China's religious freedom and human rights, so as to gather intelligence and exert its influence. The overseas subjects they can target include members of the groups named and anyone associated with them; pro-Communist overseas Chinese groups, students and Chinese staying overseas temporarily; pro-Communist media and businesses; China-dispatched journalists and staff; non-governmental organizations, and foreign political groups.
The MSS participated in the persecution of Falun Gong as early as the preparation phase. In the initial stage, it focused on intelligence collection, surveillance, analysis, research, and the detection and handling of important cases. Later, as stated above, more and more agencies, resources, and methods were utilized. The involvement became deeper and wider. The MSS has truly become one of the primary agencies persecuting Falun Gong. Most particularly, it parallels the Foreign Ministry in the persecution of Falun Gong overseas.
For instance, the MSS has special departments dedicated to the suppression of religious groups such as Falun Gong and Christianity. They call their task "maintaining social stability." They are controlled by the 610 Office, which was established specifically to suppress Falun Gong. The 610 Office has supreme privileges and is even above the CCP's own organizational framework and China's legal system. It works for a few top leaders in the CCP.
At one point, individuals within the MSS made strong attempts to reform the ministry's framework so as to make the foreign intelligence department relatively independent, especially to maintain a certain distance from the departments in charge of domestic political issues. But the attempts were neither thorough nor successful. The fundamental reason is that the CCP is a dictatorship and has tight control over the MSS.
No matter how the CCP deceives the people in China and the international community, no matter how it uses economic, military, and paramilitary means to threaten and coerce the people in China and the international community, it will not stop abusing human rights such as religious freedom in China. Because of the perseverance of the groups and individuals such as Falun Gong and the house church groups, the CCP now sees them as the biggest threat to its dictatorship and has listed them as its number one enemy. The Chinese people are the ones that play the key role in realizing the improvement of China's religious freedom and human rights situations, but they urgently need support and help from righteous countries and individuals from around the world. Their support and help will not only benefit the Chinese people and the nation of China, but also the entire world.
Mr. Long Guande's Entire Family Issues a Solemn Declaration to CCP
Guangzhou City, Guangdong Province, Falun Gong practitioner Mr. Long Guande was arrested by CCP on September 23, 2007, and an illegal trial was held on August 4, 2008. While Mr. Long was detained, he was brutally beaten by the guards, causing him to vomit and urinate blood. The guards ignored this and his condition worsened. Mr. Long's family members made multiple requests to authorities for his release for medical reasons but never received a response. Since they were extremely concerned about his health, every one of Mr. Long's family members issued a solemn declaration to the CCP on April 15, 2009. They demanded the immediate release of Mr. Long Guande.
The following is the declaration in its entirety:
Our family member, Mr. Long Guande, has practiced Falun Gong since 1995. Ever since he began to practice, not only has he become healthy, but his morality improved. He was law-abiding and a good Samaritan. It is common knowledge that everyone praised him.
After the persecution began on July 20, 1999, Mr. Long suffered severe persecution. His family members were also implicated, enduring harassment from various authority figures at work and at home. On September 23, 2007, at around 10 a.m., Mr. Long was arrested and violently beaten by officers from Guangzhou City Police Department and Dongcheng District Police Branch in Dongwan City. This caused him to vomit and urinate blood while being detained at the 3rd Detention Center of Guangzhou City. The guards ignored his situation, and his condition worsened.
On August 4, 2008, Mr. Long was tried by Tianhe District Court in Guangzhou City. His experience of being beaten and not given medical treatment was exposed, and all of his friends and family were shocked and angered. Given the large amount of information we have on the CCP detention centers' complete disregard for human life, especially the barbaric violence towards Falun Gong practitioners, and for the health and safety of Mr. Long Guande, we as his family risked persecution ourselves to appeal for his release to the Guangdong Province and Guangzhou City CCP authorities numerous times. We requested his immediate release so that he could get medical treatment at home. We demanded severe punishment for the criminals and an investigation into the persons responsible. We requested compensation for Mr. Long. However, the authorities did not respond; they kept shifting responsibilities. In the meantime, they secretly transferred Mr. Long to the Guangzhou City Armed Police Hospital twice for further persecution.
On March 6, 2009, because Mr. Long had already been detained for a year and a half longer than his sentence, and his condition continued to worsen, we once again appealed to the authorities. We exposed their highly illegal tactics and demanded his immediate release and punishment for the criminals. The authorities not only ignored our appeals, but they used their usual methods of humiliation. The Tianhe District Court shifted responsibility to the Middle Court of Guangzhou City, which shifted responsibility to the Provincial Court. They do not care about the cries of their citizens, they only shift responsibility from one level to another.
Hereby, we publicly issue this solemn declaration: We protest the illegal detainment of Mr. Long Guande; we demand the unconditional release of Mr. Long with the utmost conviction. We will not accept any explanation from any level of CCP authorities, courts, or officials. We will use all means to investigate any organizations and people responsible and bring them to justice.
The family members of Mr. Long Guande
April 15, 2009
Ms. Chen Xiumei on Hunger Strike to Protest the Persecution
On January 8, 2009, Ms. Chen Xiumei, a Falun Gong from Baoding City, Hebei Province, was arrested by Jingxiu Police Station. She was taken to Baoding Detention Center during the evening. On January 15, she was sent to Shijiazhuang Women's Labor Camp without trial. In the labor camp, Chen Xiumei was tortured by the guards. Since mid-March, she has been on a hunger strike to protest against the persecution.
On January 23, 2009, Chen Xiumei's husband went to the labor camp to visit her. He took clothes and food to her, but was not allowed to see her. Two weeks ago, after trying many ways to find out the condition of his wife, he was told that he could see her. However, he went twice to the labor camp and was told by the guards on duty that as long as his wife refuses to give up Falun Gong, he will not be able to see her.
Ms. Chen Xiumei was born on August 20, 1957. Below are the details of the persecution Ms. Chen has suffered in the labor camp.
Since Ms. Chen Xiumei refuses to wear the prisoner's uniform in the Shijiazhuang Women's Labor Camp, guard team leader Liu Ziwei shocked her with electric batons. Ms. Chen was shocked in this manner on her breasts, genital area, hip and buttocks for doing the Falun Gong exercises. Ms. Chen's body was covered with bruises due to the daily torture. The main culprits were guard Liu Ziwei and prisoners Zhu Liying, Li Yuanyuan, Wu Haixia, Liu Juan and Liu Songzhen. As soon as Li Yuanyuan saw Ms. Chen, she dragged her out to torture her, including pouring boiling water on her. Beatings by inmates and guards occurred on a regular basis.
Once, Chen Xiumei couldn't sleep, so she sat up in the meditation posture with her legs crossed and both hands co-joined. Liu Ziwei saw this and tried to pull her down by grabbing her hair, but Ms. Chen held onto the bed tightly. Liu Ziwei ripped out a handful of Ms. Chen's hair, and she nearly fell to the ground. Liu Ziwei then took Ms. Chen to the hall and brutally tortured her. Liu Zeiwei ripped off Ms. Chen's clothes to force her to wear the prisoner's uniform.
In the labor camp, the prisoners are only allowed to use the toilet at a certain time. When Chen Xiumei didn't go to the toilet at the required time, inmate Li Yuanyuan dragged her by the hair, slapped her face and kicked her. Another prisoner Liu Songzhen grabbed her hair with both hands and rammed her head hard against the wall.
Once, after finishing her meal at the hall, Chen Xiumei went to the bathroom by herself. Upon finding out about this unsupervised trip to the bathroom, re-education instructor Jiang Yumin rushed over and beat her while she was still in the bathroom.
Liu Juan is a prisoner designated to supervise Ms. Chen. Once, she beat Ms. Chen's leg with her shoes until her shoes were broken. Since then, Ms. Chen has been limping badly. Her legs are so swollen that she is unable to walk and look after herself.
On several occasions, Chen Xiumei has been isolated in room 102. It is unclear what she has endured in that room.