The Thoughts of a Law Enforcement Official in China

I am a law enforcement officer and have engaged in various legal work for many years. I feel uneasy when I think about how the Chinese officials and law enforcement officers treat those who practise Falun Gong. Since the former Chinese President Jiang Zemin and his regime began to persecute Falun Gong practitioners in July of 1999, many people have lost their jobs, many people with homes cannot go to their homes, and many students cannot go back to school. People are not at liberty to speak, countless have suffered injuries and disabilities from torture, and thousands have died as a result. Among the innumerable practices adopted by the officials in the persecution, illegalities in violation of the Constitution are rampant and infringe on the citizens' personal rights.

Every day in the early morning, the parks, the street corners, the roadsides are full of people practicing Taichi, doing sports, practicing martial arts and all kinds of Qigong¹, but only Falun Gong practitioners are not allowed to practice their exercises. They are arrested the moment they are seen practicing. Compared with Taichi, gymnastics and martial arts, Falun Gong is peaceful and gentle. The Constitution stipulates that citizens' personal rights and their rights to life and health cannot be impinged upon. But as citizens, the Falun Dafa practitioners' right to attain health by practicing their exercises is mercilessly taken away. As for those Dafa practitioners who have been arrested, beaten, tortured and crippled, or even killed, where is the protection for their personal rights and the right to life and health?

The Chinese Constitution stipulates that citizens may believe in religion or not believe in religion; they may choose to have any religious faith. As Chinese citizens, Falun Gong practitioners' faith in Falun Dafa is within their rights granted by the Constitution. Theirs is a faith in the practice's ability to enhance physical and emotional health as well as longevity, to elevate their moral character, develop compassion and truthfulness, enabling them to let go of greed, do good work, be a good wife or husband, a good parent to their children, be respectful of their parents, and to promote family harmony and a peaceful life. Compared with traditional Taoism, Buddhism, and Christianity, what is bad about this belief? The Constitution grants citizens the freedom of belief, why then can Falun Gong practitioners not have their belief, not even in their thoughts? In China, such a large community is being deprived of the freedom of belief, is there anything more unconstitutional than this?

When Falun Gong practitioners are detained, their hard earned savings of many years and private property are either seized and held in custody or confiscated. Falun Gong practitioners are law-abiding citizens; their family properties are earned through hard work, and are for providing for their aged parents and young children. The fields, orchards, or factories contracted by some practitioners are illegally usurped, taken back or confiscated. Their businesses are illegally expropriated. The Constitution and the Criminal Laws all have provisions that protect citizen's private property from encroachment; but because they practice Falun Gong and say things like "Falun Gong is good," the fields, orchards or factories that they contracted were taken back by the Administration Department, the village committee authorities or the companies concerned. I don't know which Criminal Law, Constitutional law or Contract Law the government bases its conduct on?

Falun Gong practitioners are being arrested for practicing their exercises. They not only lose their personal freedom but also their private property; or they are forced into brainwashing classes. If they disagree with the treatment, they are not in any position to bring about administrative proceedings! This is the Catch-22 situation: when you are being detained, there is no way you can take legal action. If you want to get released, you have to write a guarantee statement to give up practicing Falun Gong. If you sue the government after you've been released, and you resume practicing Falun Gong, you would be arrested again. The government officials won't let you have the opportunity to sue. Even if you could get around to suing, it'd still be difficult for you to obtain evidence of the illegality of your detention, as most Falun Gong practitioners are abducted to the brainwashing classes and other places and illegally detained and persecuted without due process. Your case will not be accepted by the courts . Even if your case were accepted, the court would not pass down judgement in Falun Gong practitioners' favour, because they have to be in line with Jiang's regime. This is the reason why in the five years from 1999 to May of 2003, there has not been one ruling in favour of Falun Gong practitioners in their legal actions against the government or the public security department in China.

In China, the prevailing notion is that the State is governed by the rule of law, but their treatment of Falun Gong, such a large group of people, shows that they violate the law everywhere you look. They have tarnished our image in the eyes of the world. How can people believe that China is governed by the rule of law?