Mr. Guo Chuanjie, the Vice Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party Committee for the Chinese Academy of Sciences, pictured here being served with legal papers in New York City's Battery Park. The judgment, entered against him this week, was for claims of genocide, torture, and crimes against humanity.

NEW YORK (FDI) - Under the shadow of New York's Statue of Liberty, a man ostensibly well-received by leaders in the American scientific community received a document he likely never expected. It was a summons and complaint, suing him in the United States federal court in New York for genocide, torture, and crimes against humanity, and exposing his role in a massive, secret persecution campaign carried out behind closed doors in his homeland, China.

Mr. Guo Chuanjie, the Vice Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party Committee within the Chinese Academy of Sciences, was visiting the US earlier this year with a team of staff from the Academy to meet with alumni from the Academy who are working in the US. His counterparts in the US, however, were likely unaware of Mr. Guo's other title: the Deputy Chief in charge of the "Falun Gong Control Office" operating within the same Academy.

Academics a Front for Chinese Gestapo

The "Falun Gong Control Office", which oversees the notorious 610 Office, is a secret, extra-judicial organization with powers above and beyond any legal or law enforcement agencies mechanism in China, charged with a single mission: exterminate Falun Gong both in China and abroad. For years, the 610 Office, also known as the "Chinese Gestapo," has operated behind the scenes, commanding untold resources and engaging all levels of the Chinese Communist Party's apparatus, to attack and eliminate Falun Gong and those who believe in or support it through any means.

These means often include illegal midnight raids of people's homes, revocation of finances and property, nullification of employment and even marriages. In many cases victims are then subjected to illegal detainment without legal representation, forced labor, torture, and in thousands of cases, death. By using the same means that the Chinese Communist Party used in rising to power, the 610 Office instills fear, offers bribes, and ultimately extracts obedience.

Part of what has allowed the 610 Office to carry out its illicit and often horrifying mission is exactly what Mr. Guo brings to the table: leadership and influence at many levels of the Chinese society. For instance, at a Chinese Communist Party Committee expansion meeting for the Academy, Mr. Guo emphasized the importance of "reforming" Falun Gong practitioners. This "reform" is a euphemism for brutal, often prolonged brainwashing which ends in either the victim abandoning their faith, or dying from torture.

Though he was served with the legal papers on February 23, 2005, Mr. Guo never responded in any way to the lawsuit. Earlier this week, Judge Kaplan of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York handed down a default judgment against Mr. Guo. The claims include genocide, torture, violation of the right to life, right to liberty, and other crimes against humanity.

Colleagues Duped

What many scholars, scientists, educators, and businesspeople in the west do not realize is just how pervasive the 610 Office and the Chinese Communist Party's operations are. Mr. Guo is not the exception - in fact, the CCP has repeatedly called on all levels of the Chinese government and its subjects to vigorously join in the illicit and bloody campaign against Falun Gong.

Accomplices range from the top levels of the Chinese Communist Party's Politburo down through the regional governmental arms and to the community level. Police in each city are given quotas for arrests and "conversions" of Falun Gong practitioners. Teachers in colleges and elementary schools are given anti-Falun Gong materials to teach, along with instructions to report any students not willing to learn it. Students are prompted to repeat the party's propaganda on standardized tests, where answering in favor of Falun Gong means giving up any chance of advancing to the next grade.

This is the context in which Mr. Guo, ostensibly a representative of science and lofty academia, arrived in New York. Fortunately in this case, he has been served a taste of justice. Certainly Mr. Guo must be held accountable for his crimes. But also, at a time when China is poised to join the world at the forefront of scientific research, Mr. Guo must answer to his counterparts in the scientific community, and answer for the atrocities he has committed against practitioners of Falun Gong.

Plaintiffs Subjected to Brainwashing and Torture

One of the plaintiffs, Ms. Liu Jinghang, was a research scientist at the Academy that Mr. Guo supervised, and had won awards for her scientific work. Because Ms. Liu would not sign papers renouncing her belief in Falun Gong, she was arrested and detained 6 times. Her home was ransacked 3 times. In February of 2000, Ms. Liu was arbitrarily arrested, detained, and sentenced to 3 years in prison.

While in prison, Ms. Liu suffered cruel tortures, such as the "Sleeping on a Deadman's Bed," in which her four limbs were stretched out and tied to the four corners of an ice-cold metal bed. She was not allowed to get up to eat, drink or go to the bathroom. Liu was also subjected to brainwashing techniques, which included being forced to watch videos containing fabricated reports vilifying Falun Gong.

Ms. Liu's husband, Mr. Li Baoqing, is another plaintiff in the suit. He was a Supervisor of Doctoral students and also a research scientist at the same Academy. He was a recipient of the "National Special Contribution Award" presented by the State Council, and also received an award as an outstanding employee at the Academy. Only for practicing Falun Gong, Mr. Li was detained 4 times. On February 1, 2001, several heavyset men kidnapped Mr. Li by covering his head with a sack. Mr. Li was taken to "Xin'an Re-education Camp" and forced to undergo brainwashing classes. He was forced to watch videos and materials that were filled with false, anti-Falun Gong propaganda, and was tortured physically and mentally. The couple later escaped and now reside in Australia.

Two other plaintiffs currently remain anonymous because of the existing threat of life and wellbeing from the Chinese Communist Party to their family members and friends who are in China.

FOR FUTHER information on lawsuits filed on behalf of Falun Gong practitioners around the world, please visit http://faluninfo.net/fdifocus.asp?FocusType=Lawsuits

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NEWS - June 03, 2005
Falun Dafa Information Center, www.faluninfo.net

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Background

Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa (about), is a practice of meditation and exercises with teachings based on the universal principle of "Truthfulness-Compassion-Tolerance." Practiced in over 50 countries world-wide, Falun Gong has roots in traditional Chinese culture. With government estimates of as many as 100 million practicing Falun Gong, China's Communist leader Jiang Zemin outlawed the peaceful practice in July 1999 (report). Since that time, Jiang's regime has intensified its propaganda campaign to turn public opinion against the practice while imprisoning, torturing and even murdering those who practice it. The Falun Dafa Information Center has verified details of 2,431 deaths (reports / sources) since the persecution of Falun Gong in China began in 1999. In October 2001, however, Government officials inside China reported that the actual death toll was well over 1,600. Expert sources now estimate that figure to be much higher. Hundreds of thousands have been detained, with more than 100,000 being sentenced to forced labor camps, typically without trial.

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FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT THE FALUN DAFA INFORMATION CENTER- Contacts: Gail Rachlin 917-757-9780, Levi Browde 914-720-0963, Erping Zhang 646-533-6147, or Christina Chai 917-386-5068. Email: contact@faluninfo.net, Website: http://faluninfo.net/