Behind the Persecution of Falun Gong in China: Practitioners Have Not Violated Any Law

(Minghui.org) Since July 1999, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) used Article 300 of the Criminal Law, “Whoever organizes and utilizes superstitious sects, secret societies, and evil religious organizations or sabotages the implementation of the state’s laws…” to suppress Falun Gong practitioners.

This law does not apply to practitioners.

Lack of Legal Basis

No law in China prohibits one from practicing Falun Gong (also known as Falun Dafa).

The only legal document that lists cults is the “Notice of the Ministry of Public Security on Several Issues Concerning the Identification and Suppression of Cult Organizations” (Public Notice [2000] No. 39), issued in 2000 by the Ministry of Public Security. It lists 14 cults, and Falun Dafa is not one of them. This means that in China, no law designates Falun Dafa as a cult according to Article 300 of the Criminal Law.

Article 3 of the Criminal Law states, “Any act deemed by explicit stipulations of law as a crime is to be convicted and given punishment by law, and any act that no explicit stipulations of law deems a crime is not to be convicted or given punishment.”

Nulla poena sine lege (“no penalty without law”) means government officials must exercise public power on a legal basis: they cannot use their power to exceed their authority.

Charges Are Not Proven

There are four elements of a criminal offense in the Chinese legal system: subject of a crime, object of a crime, subject aspect of an offense, and object aspect of an offense. When CCP officials attempt to convict Falun Dafa practitioners with Article 300 of the Criminal Law, none of these four elements is met.

1) Object of a crime refers to the object of a harmful act. There is no identifiable victim in this case.

2) Object aspect of an offense refers to the external manifestation of an action, including the action itself, the resulting consequences, and the causal relationship between the two. When charging Falun Dafa practitioners with Article 300, officials are unable to specify what action, what consequences, and their relationship.

3) The subject of a crime is a person who commits the offense. Since Falun Dafa is not on the cult list, this law does not apply.

4) The subject aspect of an offense is the internal psychological state and motivation of the offender when committing a crime. Following the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance, Falun Dafa practitioners strive to be better citizens. So the subject aspect of an offense does not apply.

In summary, none of the four elements of a criminal offense exists to convict a Falun Dafa practitioner.

Lack of Evidence

Article 98 of China’s Legislation Law states, “The Constitution has the highest legal force; no law, administrative regulation, local regulation, autonomous regulation, or separate regulation, or rule may contravene the Constitution.”

The Constitution specifies that freedom of belief and Falun Dafa books are also protected by the Constitution. That means the “evidence,” such as Falun Dafa books and materials, cannot support a conviction.

CCP officials have been using Article 300 of the Criminal Law to frame practitioners. But they cannot establish a conviction based on the four elements to show how practitioners are sabotaging the implementation of the law.

Justice needs to be served. These CCP officials are committing crimes by wrongfully persecuting Falun Dafa practitioners.,