China's Supreme People's Procuratorate announced on May 11, 2004 its decision to thoroughly investigate human rights violations for a year and bring those government officials who abused their official power to commit crimes against humanity to justice.
The Supreme People's Procuratorate's decision to "thoroughly investigate" Chinese government officials' crimes against humanity is one indicator of the human rights abuses happening in China. If the Supreme People's Procuratorate has truly resolved to combat this problem and actually tries to bring those government officials to justice, it would be progress for the Chinese justice system.
However, one cannot help but wonder whether the Supreme People's Procuratorate will really try to improve the human rights situation, given the social and political environment that fostered such an announcement.
I. A Staged Act for the "White Paper on China's Human Rights in 2004?"
As soon as the "White Paper on China's Human Rights in 2003" was published, it was met with a multitude of criticism from other countries because the majority of the improvements listed in the white paper, such as SARS, the average life span, GDP growth, and the increase of education opportunities, are not related to human rights that the rest of the world identify with and refer to. It is more like an end-of-year report from the Chinese government than a white paper on human rights.
China's Supreme People's Procuratorate has now announced its campaign on prosecuting Chinese government officials for violating human rights. It is predictable that it will prosecute some of the "typical" cases of human rights violation and include these cases in the 2004 White Paper on China's Human Rights as an important part. Naturally, one would expect China to cite these cases to defend its human rights violations in the next assembly of the United Nations' Human Rights Commission.
If the announcement from China's Supreme People's Procuratorate is an indication that international criticism has succeeded in pressuring China to improve its human rights, it would be a true blessing. However, if it turns out to be just a cosmetic job to beef up the contents of China's White Paper on Human Rights in 2004, the beauty of China's human rights will be only skin deep.
II. It Might Be a Tactic to Shift Public Attention to Some Other Typical Human Rights Violations
China has emphasized the death of Mr. Sun Zhigang (1) in its 2003 White Paper on Human Rights. Shortly after the incident, in order to pacify the public's anger evoked by Sun's death, China abolished the "Regulation on Repatriating People Who Wander or Beg in Cities to Their Hometowns" (2) that had been in force for many years. In the white paper, China painted the abolishment of such regulations as a major improvement in its human rights conditions. However, people have ignored the fact that at least 3 Falun Gong practitioners had been tortured to death in the same police department where Sun Zhigang was later beaten to death. Jiang's regime has never thought of prosecuting those murderers who tortured Falun Gong practitioners to death.
The persecution against 100 million Falun Gong practitioners is the Jiang regime's largest and most severe human rights violation by far since 1999. According to incomplete statistics, as of May 31, 2004, more than 973 practitioners have been verified as being tortured to death in China. In addition, there are at least 6,000 Falun Gong practitioners who have been illegally sentenced to prison. Over 100,000 practitioners have been sentenced to forced labor camps. Thousands of practitioners have been forcefully sent to psychiatric hospitals to be tortured with injections that are damaging to the central nervous system. Large groups of Falun Gong practitioners have been sent to local brainwashing classes, where they have been subjected to both physical and mental torture. Many more practitioners have been severely beaten and had large sums of money extorted from them by so-called "law-enforcement officials." When large numbers of Falun Gong practitioners are beaten to death, injured, and their families are broken up, when they have to leave home and go from place to place because of the persecution, millions of Falun Gong practitioners' families, relatives, friends and colleagues are also implicated and brainwashed to varying degrees. In addition, Jiang's regime has spread slanderous lies against Falun Gong via China's state-run media to instigate the Chinese people's hatred towards Falun Gong practitioners for the purpose of justifying and sustaining the persecution. Students who practice Falun Gong are also subject to severe discrimination from faculty and peers.
For five consecutive years since July 20, 1999, the biggest international pressure that the Chinese Communist government has been put under was caused by its severe human rights violations against Falun Gong practitioners. The international community has been condemning the Chinese government for its systematic persecution and torture of Falun Gong practitioners each year. During the annual assembly of the United Nations' Human Rights Commission in Geneva, Switzerland, each year since 1999, Falun Gong practitioners have gone to Geneva to protest the Chinese government's persecution and have always been the largest yet peaceful protest group in Geneva.
If the Chinese government were really trying to relieve itself from international condemnation of its human rights violations, the best way would be to just end its senseless, meaningless and immoral persecution against the law-abiding and innocent Falun Gong practitioners, which Jiang Zemin has poured a massive amount of national resources into suppressing.
However, Jiang's regime has chosen to exhaust all available means to sustain and cover up its persecution of Falun Gong. One of its frequently used tactics is to make minor improvements on another type of human rights violation to shift the world's attention away from Falun Gong.
If China's Supreme People's Procuratorate should spend a year to make cosmetic human rights improvements for the purpose of diverting the world's attention from China's most severe human rights violation -- the persecution against Falun Gong practitioners -- the "thorough investigation" to combat human rights violations would actually become a scheme to abet China's human rights violations.
III. Shouldn't Jiang Zemin's Persecution of Falun Gong Practitioners Be a Typical Case That Ought to Be "Thoroughly Investigated?"
China's Supreme People's Procuratorate claimed in its announcement on May 11, 2004 that it would first pick a group of typical cases of human rights violations to get the investigation efforts rolling. It claimed that it would prosecute the suspects directly or indirectly, and that it will also dispatch working teams to various places in the country to monitor the prosecution of such cases.
The persecution of Falun Gong practitioners in China is undoubtedly one of the most typical cases of human rights violations in China. It is also a case of human rights violations in China that the world is most concerned about. Whether China's Supreme People's Procuratorate is sincerely combating human rights violations in China or doing no more than a cosmetic improvement, shall depend on whether it selects some of the human rights violations against Falun Gong for its campaign.
China's Supreme People's Procuratorate should have no difficulty at all finding cases of human rights violations against Falun Gong practitioners. There have been a huge number of such cases reported on Clearwisdom.net. Let's look at a recently reported case. Ms. Huang Zhao, a young woman born in 1972 in Wuhan City, Hubei Province, practiced Falun Gong. On April 1, 2004, the local police snatched Ms. Huang and her husband (also a Falun Gong practitioner) from their home without a warrant and took them to the police station. In less than 24 hours, Ms. Huang fell into coma while in police custody. On April 16, 2004, Ms. Huang passed away. [See "Ms. Huang Zhao Is Killed by Police and '610 Office' Personnel (photo)" for details.]
China's Supreme People's Procuratorate claimed that it would thoroughly investigate all cases of police illegally detaining civilians, illegally searching or ransacking civilians' homes, interrogating suspects with torture and violence, forcing suspects to confess with torture and violence, abusing people in detention, arbitrarily extending suspects' terms of detention, etc. Based on the Supreme People's Procuratorate's statement, shouldn't Ms. Huang Zhao's death be a part of its thorough investigation?
The Supreme People's Procuratorate also claimed that it was determined to bring all human rights offenders to justice regardless of their organization, department, rank, position, or relationships. Amnesty International has condemned Jiang Zemin as a "human rights scoundrel" for three years in a row. Shouldn't Jiang Zemin be the first target of a "thorough investigation" of China's Supreme People's Procuratorate? The Supreme People's Procuratorate has made a lot of promises, but can it follow through?
If not, this campaign is no more than a theatrical performance designed to fool the rest of the world.
IV. Who Organized the Investigation Campaign?
The Public Security Ministry and the Supreme People's Procuratorate are the main organizers of the campaign to combat human rights violations, but they have been following and assisting Jiang Zemin in persecuting Falun Gong practitioners. The Minister of Public Security, Mr. Zhou Yongkang, has even been sued for his crime of torture against Falun Gong practitioners in the United States' Federal Court when he visited the United States in 2001. (3)
How can these human rights scoundrels possibly be trying to solve the human rights violations that they have created?
There is an interesting paradox prevailing in China's political arena. The deeply corrupt government officials usually emphasize the importance of integrity in their speeches during the day, yet they take bribes and spend taxpayers' money for personal pleasure at night. Please feel free to check out the history of those high-ranking officials who were later arrested for corruption, including Mr. Li Jiating (the Governor of Yunnan Province), Mr. Liu Fangren (the General Secretary of Guizhou Provincial Committee), Mr. Cheng Weigao (the General Secretary of Hebei Provincial Committee), Mr. Tian Fengshan (Minister of Land Resources), or Mr. Wang Huaizhong (Deputy Governor of Anhui Province). These so-called "public servants" are known to promote integrity and condemn corruption in their speeches and reports while taking bribes at the same time.
The above paradox has a counterpart on the issue of human rights violations. Those human rights scoundrels keep claiming to prosecute cases of human rights violations while continuing to commit crimes against humanity. How long will these human rights scoundrels keep up this theatrical campaign to combat human rights violations? Is there any actual meaning to this charade?
Naturally, one is always encouraged to maintain hope. Regardless of the organizers' actual motivation, the campaign to combat human rights violations might turn out to be an opportunity to improve China's human rights after all. All individuals and groups in China whose human rights have been compromised, including Falun Gong practitioners, should take the opportunity to speak out for their human rights. Whether the Public Security Minister and the Supreme People's Procuratorate are running a cosmetic campaign or truly trying to improve China's human rights, things might turn out differently than what we expect if all segments of society worldwide support the campaign and if we grasp the opportunity to safeguard human rights and oppose the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners.
Notes:
(1) Background Information on Sun Zhigang's Death:
Sun Zhigang was twenty-seven years old. He graduated from Wuhan College of Science and Technology only two years ago and had just found a job after spending twenty days in Guangzhou. On March 17, 2003, at around 10:00 p.m., while on his way to an Internet caf�, Mr. Sun was arrested and taken to the police station on Huangcun Street, Dongpu District, Guangzhou, simply because he didn't have his temporary residence registration card with him. Later, he was transferred to the Guangzhou Detention and Deportation Center. When his colleagues demanded his release on probation, for some unknown reason, the police told them that Sun was not allowed to be taken home even though he now had his ID card. When his friends called again on March 19, they were told Sun was sent to a hospital for detainees. The next thing we knew of was the report of Sun Zhigang's death on March 20, 2003. The police initially claimed that Sun Zhigang died from a stroke and a heart attack, which is what was written in the medical record.
Sun's father questioned this explanation and asked for an autopsy at Zhongshan University Medical School at his own expense. The forensic examination revealed that the police had lied. The report described that Sun had been severely beaten within 72 hours of his death and had died of traumatic shock from massive soft tissue damage. All the lawyers Sun's family met with didn't dare to accept the case because they believed that since it was a lawsuit against a government entity, it would be impossible to win even though they might have all the evidence on their side.
A reporter heard about the story and made a low profile investigation of the incident. The report was posted and transmitted on the Internet and aroused nationwide anger. Then, more and more similar stories were revealed on the Internet. People started to realize that Sun's death was just the tip of the iceberg.
The publicity in the media finally led to intervention from the Chinese Central Government. On June 5, 2003, three courts began trials of similar criminal cases. Eighteen people have been convicted so far.
[The above information is taken from the June 25, 2003 issue of China Scope.]
(2) In China, everyone needs to have a permanent residence card in order to permanently (and legally) reside and work in a certain place. If a person wants to temporarily live or work in a different place than the place where he registers his permanent residency, then he needs to get a temporary residence card and carry it with him at all times. If he is found to not have such card or forget to bring this card with him, authorities of that place can arrest him and send him back to his hometown according to the "Regulation on Repatriating People Who Wander or Beg in Cities to Their Hometowns."
(3) See number 5 item of http://www.flgjustice.org/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=237
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