Chinese Official Bo Xilai is a Criminal Defendant in Germany

Due to the case of Hong Kong journalist Jiang Weiping, the record of serious corruption and human rights abuses by Bo Xilai, who was once the Mayor of Dalian City and Liaoning Provincial Governor, has been made known to people all over the world. Due to his outstanding investigative report, Hong Kong journalist Jiang Weiping was awarded an International Press Freedom Award in 2001 by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). Jiang Weiping was also sentenced to eight years in prison. Bo Xilai gave the order. This case caused quite a stir in the international society.

After Jiang Zemin personally initiated the persecution of Falun Gong, Bo Xilai spared no effort to support the persecution. During his tenure as Dalian City Mayor, Dalian was one of the cities that suppressed Falun Gong most severely. Fifteen Falun Gong practitioners were persecuted to death. Jiang Zemin personally promoted Bo Xilai to be Liaoning Provincial Governor.

During his tenure as Liaoning Provincial Governor, Liaoning was one of the provinces that oppressed Falun Gong most seriously. As of December the 1st 2003, the confirmed number of Falun Gong practitioners persecuted to death came to ninety, ranking fourth in the country. The schemes enacted by some forced labour camps in Liaoning, such as the Masanjia Forced Labour Camp, the Dabei Prison, the Dalian Reformatory etc., to suppress Falun Gong are extremely brutal. The Dalian Reformatory was even selected as a national “role model organisation” in terms of ‘transformation work’. Because Dalian the City Political and Law Department actively carried out the overall persecution initiated by Jiang Zemin, Dalian City’s Public Security Department was given a first-grade citation by the Ministry of Public Security.

Three psychiatric hospitals in Liaoning Province are confirmed to have been involved in the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners: Anshan City Tang Jiafang Mental Hospital, Yingkou Mental Hospital and another mental hospital in Lingyuan City, Liaoning Province.

In 2003, Liaoning Province invested five hundred million Yuan to construct China’s first prison complex in Shenyang, with an area of 1.3 square kilometres, to meet the need of accommodating imprisoned Falun Gong practitioners.

The following are some of the reports given by eyewitnesses and inmates in the Dalian Reformatory and Shenyang Dabei Prison.

The Police in Dalian Reformatory: "This is the National Law"

On June the 3rd 2001, the Chief of a Male Brigade, Wang Qi, beat 65-year-old Falun Gong practitioner Wang Enchang with electric batons and rubber clubs. While beating him he said, "This is the national law." Wang Qi instructed two inmates close to the prison guards to beat Wang Enchang’s knees and calves with folding chairs, and said, "I am a representative of the government." Wang Qi also instructed the inmates close to the prison guards to beat Wang Enchang’s shoulders and back with bed boards and rubber clubs, which made Wang Enchang’s chest extremely painful as if his heart had ruptured. Afterwards, they stepped on Wang Enchang’s private parts for more than ten minutes. As of today, he has not recovered from the injuries, so sometimes he has to get up more than ten times a night to urinate. He often has a pain in his abdomen and as a result he has to kneel on his bed and straighten up his waist to reduce the pain. In addition, two inmates close to the prison guards took turns to beat Wang Enchang every day until he passed out and then handcuffed his two hands and violently bound his hands with a leather leash. He was incessantly tortured from morning until evening for four days. Wang Enchang’s whole body was covered with wounds and bruises, and the skin from his buttocks to his legs was purple and black.

Dabei Prison: “It is the superior authority’s order that the prison would rather let Falun Gong practitioners die than permit them to be released on bail for medical treatment.”

The Clearwisdom website has received several letters from its readers exposing the atrocities in Dabei Prison. It is reported that the Shenyang Dabei Prison in Liaoning Province has unceasingly escalated the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners. Under the inhuman brutal torture, since January 2003 Falun Gong practitioners in Dabei Prison have commonly suffered hypertension, heart attacks, pleurisy, hydrothorax, renal failure, serious pulmonary diseases, gastric diseases, bodily oedema, numb limbs, hemiplegia etc., putting them in a critical condition. Falun Gong practitioners’ family members demanded strongly that the practitioners whose lives are in critical condition be released on bail for medical treatment. But the authorities of Dabei Prison unreasonably rejected this, and the even asked the practitioners’0 family members to pay the medical bills, saying, “It is the superior authority’s order that the prison would rather let Falun Gong practitioners die than permit them to be released on bail for medical treatment.” After the Spring Festival 2003, two more practitioners were beaten to death in a female prison in Dabei.

The Director of the Dalian Reformatory: “Didn’t you talk about evil? I am that evil!”

In early 2002, many Falun Gong practitioners staged a mass hunger strike to protest against the cruel persecution. Prison guards thus instructed criminal inmates to abuse these practitioners by carrying out a serious punishment called “Pi Kua”: stretching a lady out by tying her hands and feet and then injuring her vagina with a club, force-feeding her water mixed with pepper, brutally beating her, etc. Other methods used include scalding their bodies with hot water, depriving them of sleep, making them stand for long periods of time, making them stand bare-footed in the winter with the windows open, inserting tubes in their stomachs, handcuffing them to beds, etc. Falun Gong practitioners, such as Wang Lijun, Sun Yan and Man Chunrong, have undergone this serious punishment several times. The Director of this Reformatory, whose surname is Zhang, Division Chiefs surnamed Han and Wan, and Squadron Chief surnamed Yang have mercilessly beaten Falun Gong practitioners. He once said, “Didn’t you talk about evil? I am that evil!”

In the well-known Nuremberg Trial, Nazi war criminals were divided into A-class, B-class and C-class according to the crimes they committed. Those Nazi military officers who participated in the massacre in person were classified as C-class war criminals. The commanders who gave orders behind the scene were classified as A-class war criminals, and those who were sentenced to capital punishment were these people because if it had not been for these commanders behind the scene, there would not have been those who physically participated in the massacre. In the suppression of Falun Gong, the so-called "leadership responsibility system" and "the single-veto system” were implemented. Thereby, an order given by any leader might lead to the killing of a Falun Gong practitioner.

In his article entitled “How One Chinese City Resorted to Atrocities to Control Falun Dafa”, Wall Street Journal reporter Ian Johnson said, “Mr. Wu Shantong Provincial Governor quickly found ways to transfer the pressure. First, Weifang City officials say, Mr. Wu ensured that every official in the city knew what was at stake, by calling a meeting of police and government officials to a "study session." There, the central government's directive was read out loud: ‘The government instructed us to limit the number of protesters or be responsible.’ Another government official said: ‘Such methods quickly led to abuses.’…...”

Like the Nuremberg Trial, those who initiated and directed the persecution of Falun Gong, including Jiang Zemin, Luo Gan, Liu Jing, Zhou Yongkang, as well as the officials who closely followed the orders given by Jiang such as Bo Xilai, will not be able to avoid or prevent this pending historical trial.

Jiang, Luo, Liu, Zhou, etc. have been sued in more than ten countries by Falun Gong practitioners on charges of genocide, crimes against humanity and cruel torture. As of the end of January 2004, there have been forty-five members of various Chinese Communist Party committees, heads of the "610 Office", government officials and personnel of forced labour camps on the watch list of the Canadian Mounted Police Department. If these people try to enter Canada, they will be subject to investigation. The findings of the investigation may lead to denial of visa applications, prohibition of entry, or even prosecution in Canada on charges of “crimes against humanity.”

On March 9th, 2004, "Friends of Falun Gong" and “The World Organisation to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong” (WOIPFG) submitted a list of 102 key responsible persons who actively participated in the persecution of Falun Gong to the U.S. government, including Jiang Zemin, Luo Gan, Liu Jing, Zhou Yongkang, Li Lanqing, Wang Maolin, etc., and urged the U.S. government to prohibit these people from entering the U.S.

Bo Xilai's name was on both of the lists.

In the criminal lawsuit filed with the Federal Prosecutor’s Office in Germany by forty Falun Gong practitioners, Bo Xilai was one of the defendants on charges of genocide and crimes against humanity.