A Notice from the CCP Committee of Hengshui City Reveals the Systematic and Illegal Nature of the Persecution of Falun Gong

Included in the evidence collected by the "Minghui Committee for Collecting Evidence of Persecution" are two notices dated July 22nd, 1999. Both are from the Office of Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Committee of Hengshui City, Hebei Province. One was labelled "secret" and titled "Notice from Hengshui City CCP Committee Office Regarding the Issuance of its July 21st, 1999 Standing Committee Meeting Minutes" ("City CCP Committee Notice" for short). The other was "Urgent Notice on Several Specific Requirements for The Current Task of Handling and Solving Falun Gong Issue" ("Urgent Notice" for short). These two notices are direct evidence of the CCP's persecution of Falun Gong and reveal the systematic nature of the illegal persecution.

1. The Persecution of Falun Gong is a coercive political movement launched by an autocrat, ignoring public opinion

There are statements in the so-called "City CCP Committee Notice" that the "City CCP Committee and City Government handled and solved the Falun Gong issues according to the strategic planning of the Central CCP Committee and Provincial CCP Committee per requirements of the No.13 Document." The Central CCP Committee No. 13 Document they referred to was Jiang's personal will, expressed in the form of a document issued by Jiang on July 20th, 1999 in the name of "the Central CCP Committee." In the "Urgent Notice," it was stated that "Thoroughly communicate and carry out CCP Secretary General Jiang's important instructions and the spirit of his speech ... was the important premise to completely triumph in this combat." No. 13 Document ordered a complete ban of Falun Gong and claimed, "It is an austere political struggle." The autocratic system of the Chinese Communist Party made the governments all over the country unconditionally obey Jiang's Central CCP Committee and to attack the innocent and persecute the good.

These kinds of secret documents indicate that like how Mao Zedong initiated the Cultural Revolution, Jiang Zemin exerted his political power in lieu of the law and used the Chinese Communist Party to initiate the inhuman persecution. He totally disregarded the fact that Falun Gong has its roots in traditional Chinese culture, has broad popularity and benefits the country in all aspects with harm to none. The persecution is not based on any public opinion, but made use of CCP's organisational discipline "The whole party should comply with the Central CCP Committee (which was Jiang )" and to coerce all the party members and ordinary people to follow Jiang's order.

2. A premeditated and systematic persecution of Falun Gong

Before the persecution was formally initiated, the so-called "City CCP Committee Notice" mentioned that "According to the arrangements of the Central CCP Committee and Provincial Party Committee" the City CCP Committee and City Government had "done a lot of work and laid a good foundation for completely dealing with and solving Falun Gong issue."

We have obtained a lot of materials indicating that before the persecution officially started, Jiang Zemin and the CCP had already made secret plans to prepare for the persecution. For instance, on April 27th, 1999 the [1999] No. 14 top-secret document surfaced. On June 7th, 1999, Jiang made a speech on Falun Gong issue at the Conference of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the CCP. On June 13th, 1999, the Office of Central CCP Committee issued Jiang's speech as a document released from the Central CCP Committee. Under Jiang's personal plan and arrangement, "the Leadership Team Office Handling Falun Gong Issues" was set up on June 10th, 1999, hence the name of this office is "610 Office" (or "610") in short

Witnesses and material evidence show that Jiang personally led the CCP to commit a variety of premeditated activities preparing for the persecution.

The two notices explicitly mention the 610 Leadership Team and 610 Office. We may conclude from the "City CCP Committee Notice" that "610" directly serves the CCP committee. "610" is a nationwide CCP organisation, specifically established to persecute Falun Gong. It has trampled the law and committed countless crimes of persecution against Falun Gong. By the large scale of the notices issued, it is evident that "610" was widely known within the party before the persecution began in 1999. However, the public was in the dark about the matter.

3. 610 Office is an illegal organisation

The Hengshui City CCP Committee issued the notices and documents with no regard for the law. Jiang Zemin issued orders under the name of "rule of law" to persecute people who practise "Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance".

4. The critical role CCP has played in the persecution of Falun Gong

These two notices have shown that the CCP Committee of Hengshui City is the local supporter as well as the backstage director and plotter of the persecution of Falun Gong. It has deployed various detailed persecution plans and lived up to being the "Centralised Leadership of the CCP." The "City CCP Committee Notice" clearly stipulated that "each level CCP and secretary of CCP organisational committee is to be primarily responsible".

Hebei Province is one of the worst offenders in the persecution of Falun Gong. As of January 5th, 2005, at least 140 practitioners have been tortured to death. Eight were from Hengshui City. Their names were Mr. Yin Genwang (69), Ms. Wang Dongmei (in her 30s), Ms. Liu Fuse (67), Mr. Zhang Jianxun (64), Mr. Liu Qiusheng (in his 40s), Ms. Xiao Xin'gai (39), Mr. Liu Lianyi (54), and Ms. An Xiukun (49). As to those practitioners who are injured, disabled, illegally detained, sent to forced labour or forced to become homeless due to the persecution, their number still remains unknown. In addition to 610 Office staff, police and other lawless personnel participating in persecution, the Hengshui City CCP Committee holds undeniable responsibility.

During the process of this large-scale bloody and brutal persecution of Falun Gong, the CCP, as a mature, violent machine skilled in killing and lying, has played a key role. As the Secretary General of the CCP, whether on the front stage or behind the scenes, Jiang Zemin controlled the CCP to mobilise the whole state machine including the military, the media, public security, police, state security, the judiciary system, the People's Congress, diplomats, sham religious groups and others to assist in the persecution.

5. Hengshui City CCP Committee Notice Full of Lies

The persecution initiated by Jiang is based on lies. Through the organisational structure of the CCP, Jiang infused all levels of CCP Committees with his lies, and then CCP Committees infused party members with those lies. Both of these notices repeated the lies and slander contrived by Jiang. The "City CCP Committee Notice" demanded to "do well in propaganda and control public opinion" in order to defame and slander Falun Gong.

From the notice, we can also see that the Xinhua News Agency, CCTV, the Central People's Radio Station and other CCP-controlled media repeatedly fabricated lies to slander Falun Gong and its founder Mr. Li Hongzhi. The "Urgent Notice" demanded all related workplaces to seriously study, view and listen to the defamatory propaganda from the CCP Central media departments and then followed it up by a discussion and public criticism, an eerie replay of things that happened in the Cultural Revolution.

6. Using a coercive implication policy to stop Falun Gong practitioners' legal appeals

According to the "deployment from the CCP Central Committee and the provincial CCP Committee," the Hengshui City CCP Committee wrote detailed measures in the notice. For example, "establish strict responsibility systems at all levels," from the City CCP Committee to the countryside, from the inside to the outside of CCP. It tightly linked the future career of officials at all levels to their attitude toward Falun Gong. It clearly said to "convert the minds" of practitioners through brainwashing and to force them to give up their belief in "Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance." From the notice, it is evident that the authorities are afraid of public appeals. They did everything possible to prevent practitioners from exercising their constitutional right to appeal for justice.

Because of this coercive implication policy, many officials and police illegally stopped the people who went to appeal on behalf of Falun Gong. In order to secure their jobs and for some to elevate their political status, they actively participated in the persecution. Practitioners going to government offices (including Beijing) to appeal were illegally arrested and mistreated, including such things as being detained, having their homes ransacked, being fined, sent to forced labour camp, sentenced to jail, tortured and even murdered.

The two notices confirm that the basic human rights of Falun Gong practitioners have been deprived.

The first page and the last page of "Notice from Hengshui City CCP Committee Office Regarding the Issuance of Its July 21st, 1999 Standing Committee Meeting Minute" (Hengbanwen [1999] No. 2 Document)

The first page and the last page of "Urgent Notice on Several Specific Requirements for The Current Task of Handling and Solving the Falun Gong Issue"

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These two notices are only a tiny portion of all sorts of secret orders, documents and notices from each level of the initiators of the persecution. We hope that more people will step forward with evidence of the persecution. Together we can expose and stop the genocidal crimes committed by Jiang's regime.