Wave of International Lawsuits Target Luo Gan, “6-10 Office” for Systematic
Brainwashing, Torture and Killing of Falun Gong Practitioners
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NEW
YORK (FDI) – For the second time in three days, Standing Committee member
of the Chinese Communist Party’s Politburo, Luo Gan, was served with a criminal
lawsuit for his role in implementing a policy of genocide against Falun Gong
practitioners.
During the past four years, the “6-10 Office” in China – described by the United
States Congress as an agency charged with “overseeing the persecution of Falun
Gong members through organized brainwashing, torture, and murder” – has been
the primary instrument for implementing the genocidal policy towards Falun Gong
practitioners. (about
“6-10 Office”)
Today, Luo – who is vice-director of the “6-10 Office” and is on a three-day
visit to Finland – has been charged with crimes of genocide and torture.
The complaint was filed with the chief prosecutor’s office in Helsinki at 8:30am
by the plaintiffs’ lawyer, Mr. Erkki Kannisto.
“Luo
Gan is suspected of genocide against Falun Gong practitioners in China,” said
Mr. Kannisto. “According to the law, [the chief prosecutor’s office] should
start a police investigation.” Mr. Kannisto suggested, however, that the politics
involved would pose a test for Finnish authorities. “To my knowledge, we haven’t
had a similar case in Finland. This is the first [of its kind].”
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The complaint is based on the United Nations Genocide Convention, which Finland
ratified on December 18, 1959, as well as the United Nations Convention Against
Torture, which Finland ratified on September 29, 1989. As a party to these
conventions, Finnish Courts are authorized to hear cases which allege violation
of its terms.
Plaintiffs
in the lawsuit include Ms. Cuiying Zhang and Ms. Jane Dai who both practice
Falun Gong.
Ms. Zhang – an internationally acclaimed traditional Chinese painter who has
exhibited her work in 27 countries across four continents (website)
– was imprisoned and tortured in China for eight months because of her Falun
Gong practice.
Ms. Dai’s husband was tortured to death by police in China for refusing to
renounce his Falun Gong practice, and his partially decomposed body was later
found in an abandoned hut. Ms. Dai struggled for months to obtain her late-husband’s
ashes from Chinese authorities and has spent the last two years touring the
world with her young daughter raising awareness about the persecution that killed
her husband.
Luo
Gan and the “6-10 Office” — A Gestapo for Falun Gong
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According to an internal Chinese Communist Party document dated June 7, 1999,
in a speech to the Chinese Communist Party Central Committee, Jiang ordered
the Committee to set up an office for the “leadership group” and named it
“the Head Office for Handling the Falun Gong Issue,” also called the “6-10
Office,” named for the date it was officially founded. (about)
Jiang personally appointed three chiefs of the “6-10 Office,” one of whom
was Luo Gan.
The “6-10 Office” became a well-organized and independent system, spanning
from the Central Government to the local governments, and having absolute power
over each level of administration in the Party, as well as the political and
judiciary branches.
In an Aug. 05, 2001, article from the Washington Post, a three-prong
tactic consisting of “violence,” “high-pressure propaganda campaign,” and “brainwashing
classes” was cited by a government official as the approach used by the Chinese
government to eradicate Falun Gong. “Each aspect of the campaign is critical,”
the Post quoted the official. “Pure violence doesn’t work. Just [brainwashing]
doesn’t work either. And none of it would be working if the propaganda hadn’t
started to change the way the general public thinks. You need all three.”
The Post article went on to say, “In January, Beijing’s secret 610 office,
an interagency task force leading the charge against Falun Gong, ordered all
neighborhood committees, state institutions and companies to begin using [brainwashing
classes], government sources said. No Falun Gong member is supposed to be spared.
The most active members are sent directly to labor camps where they are first
‘broken’ by beatings and other torture.”
According to sources in China and thousands of testimonies from victims, the
“6-10 Office” implemented a similar three-prong directive given by Jiang in
the later part of 2001 to all levels of government:
1. Destroy Falun Gong practitioners physically through systematic, state-sanctioned
forced-labor, torture and killings. This also included mental torture through
widespread usage of brainwashing facilities, forced conversion, and incarceration
in mental hospitals where many were injected with nerve-damaging drugs.
2. Destroy Falun Gong practitioners’ reputations through a worldwide media
campaign to demonize Falun Gong and falsely depict its practitioners as dangerous
‘cult’ members and a menace to society.
3. Destroy Falun Gong practitioners financially, which, in a Communist nation
where the government can exercise significant control over employment and housing,
allowed Jiang to deny Falun Gong practitioners basic necessities for living,
such as salaries/pensions, employment, education, housing, etc. in addition
to suffering widespread extortion, confiscation of property and state-enforced
fines when detained by police.
As vice-director of the “6-10 Office” Luo personally inspected Political and
Judiciary branches as well as labour camps around the country to ensure all
levels of government implement Jiang Zemin’s three-prong directive for handling
Falun Gong practitioners.
According to the United Nations Human Rights Commission’s 2001 Report,
Luo Gan had intimate knowledge of the forms of torture and abuse used against
Falun Gong practitioners in labour camps: “In October 2000,” the UN report states,
“prison guards in the Masanjia prison in Shenyang, Liaoning province, allegedly
stripped 18 female Falun Dafa practitioners and put them into cells containing
male convicted criminals. It is reported that Luo Gan, a high-ranking Communist
Party official, was aware of the incident. The 18 women are said to remain in
prison.”
Wave of International Lawsuits Target Luo Gan, “6-10 Office”
The Finnish lawsuit is the thirteenth international lawsuit in ten countries
to emerge in the past two years against high-ranking Chinese officials or government
bodies for their roles in persecuting Falun Gong. (news
– website)
It is the fifth international lawsuit to target Luo and/or the “6-10 Office”
he oversees.
Three days ago, a criminal lawsuit was filed against Luo in Iceland charging
the “6-10 Office” leader with crimes of torture, genocide and crimes against
humanity. At the time, Luo was on a two-day trip to the island country that
boasts the oldest democracy in the world. (news)
Last month, one of the lawyers who prosecuted Chilean dictator, Augusto Pinochet,
filed a criminal lawsuit in Belgium against Luo Gan, former Chinese leader,
Jiang Zemin and one other senior-ranking Chinese official on behalf of Falun
Gong practitioners. The lawsuit charges the three men with genocide, torture
and crimes against humanity. (news)
In December 2002, a criminal lawsuit was filed in France charging the former
Vice-Premier of China, Mr. Lanqing Li – who was the acting administrative head
for the “6-10 Office” – with crimes of torture. In July 2003, the French criminal
court began legal proceedings on the case. (news)
In October 2002, a class-action lawsuit was filed in a U.S. District Court
charging former Chinese leader, Jiang Zemin, and the “6-10 Office” with torture,
genocide and crimes against humanity. (news)
Luo Gan Faces Unfamiliar Foe in Finland – The Rule of Law
The UN Genocide Convention and related UN statutes explicitly deny immunity
to government officials. Thus, the filing of the criminal lawsuit in Finland
under these conventions could spoil the “immunity defense” typically put forth
by Luo and his peers when faced with criminal or civil charges outside China.
According to the Convention on the Prevention of Genocide, Article IV, “Persons
committing genocide or other acts enumerated in article III [genocide] shall
be punished, whether they are constitutionally responsible rulers, public officials
or private individuals.”
Similar United Nations statutes have echoed this principle when dealing with
genocide charges. The Statute of the International Tribunal for Former Yugoslavia
and for Rwanda (Articles 7 and 6 of the respective statutes) state: “The official
position of any accused person, whether as Head of State of Government or as
a responsible Government official, shall not relieve such person of criminal
responsibility nor mitigate punishment.”
If the articles in the Genocide Convention are carried out, Luo could face
a criminal investigation or even arrest during his stay in Finland.
For more information about Luo Gan, Falun Gong, and international efforts
to end the persecution of Falun Gong in China, please visit www.faluninfo.net.
Contact information:
Finnish Lawyer Mr. Erkki Kannisto: + 358-40-588-1404
Finnish Falun Gong Spokesman Mr. Hannu Jarvinen: +358-41-458-2627
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.” It is a practice that was
taught in private for thousands of years before being made public in 1992 by
Mr. Li Hongzhi. Falun Gong has roots in traditional Chinese culture, but it
is distinct and separate from other practices such as the religions of Buddhism
and Taoism. Since its introduction in 1992, it quickly spread by word of mouth
throughout China, and is now practiced in over 50
countries.
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),
fearful of anything touching the hearts and minds of more citizens than the
Communist Party. Unable to crush the spirit of millions who had experienced
improved health and positive life changes from Falun Gong, Jiang’s regime has
intensified its propaganda campaign to turn public opinion against the practice
while quietly imprisoning, torturing and even murdering those who practice it.
To that end, Jiang established the “6-10
Office,” a Gestapo-like agency spanning from the Central Government to the
local governments. The United States Congress has described the “6-10 Office”
as an agency charged with “overseeing the persecution of Falun Gong members
through organized brainwashing, torture, and murder.” (news)
The Falun Dafa Information Center has verified details of 781 deaths (reports
/ sources)
since the persecution of Falun Gong in China began in 1999. In October 2000,
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.
