Bo Xilai’s Crimes in Persecuting Falun Gong Practitioners in China

Bo Xilai, an official in the Chinese communist regime, is responsible for scores of deaths by torture, arbitrary imprisonment, and persecution of Falun Gong practitioners in China. The following is a summary of his crimes.

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 died as a result of the persecution they received in Dalian at that time. Jiang Zemin personally promoted Bo Xilai to be the Governor of Liaoning Province.

During his tenure as Governor, Liaoning was among the provinces that oppressed Falun Gong most seriously. As of December 1, 2003, the confirmed number of Falun Gong practitioners persecuted to death in Liaoning was ninety, ranking fourth in the country. The schemes used by forced labour camps in Liaoning to suppress Falun Gong, such as at the Masanjia Forced Labour Camp, the Dabei Prison, the Dalian Reformatory, and others, are extremely brutal. The Dalian Reformatory was even selected as a national “role model organisation” in terms of ‘transformation work’. Dalian’s Political and Law Department was given a first-grade citation by the Ministry of Public Security because it had so effectively implemented Jiang’s overall plans for the persecution of Falun Gong.

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 in Shenyang to construct China’s first prison complex built simply to hold Falun Gong practitioners. The complex is huge, sprawling over 1.3 square kilometres .

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

The Police in Dalian Reformatory: “This is Federal Law”

On June the 3rd 2001, the Chief of a Men’s 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 federal 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 back to reduce the pain. In addition, two inmates close to the prison guards take 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: “Prison authorities have ordered that we should let Falun Gong practitioners die rather than allow 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 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’ family members to pay the medical bills, saying, “Prison authorities have ordered that we should let Falun Gong practitioners die rather than allow them to be released on bail for medical treatment.” After the Spring Festival 2003, two more practitioners were beaten to death in a women’s 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 barefoot 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 cruel punishment several times. The Director of this Reformatory, surname Zhang, Division Chiefs named Han and Wan, and Squadron Chief named 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. 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. It was these A-class criminals who were sentenced to capital punishment because if it had not been for these commanders behind the scene giving the orders, the massacre wouldn’t have happened. 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.’……”

As in the Nuremberg Trials, those who initiated and directed the persecution will not be able to avoid meeting with justice for their evil deeds. It was Jiang Zemin who initiated the persecution of Falun Gong, with Luo Gan, Liu Jing, and Zhou Yongkang being most those most responsible for directing it. Other officials who closely followed Jiang’s orders, such as Bo Xilai, will not be able to escape justice for what they have done in the persecution of Falun Gong.

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, forty-five members of various Chinese Communist Party committees, heads of the “610 Office”, government officials and personnel of forced labour camps have been added to the watch list of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. 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, and 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 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 is on both of the lists.

Bo Xilai is also among the defendants listed in a criminal lawsuit filed with the Federal Prosecutor’s Office in Germany by forty Falun Gong practitioners. The charges here again: genocide and crimes against humanity.