(Minghui.org) Zhang Qingdi, a retired deputy police chief in a northeastern city of China, died on August 1 this year. After being diagnosed with colon cancer two years earlier, he underwent several operations. But the cancer metastasized and eventually took his life.
People who knew him well often relate Zhang’s death to his position. After all, Zhang was one of the fiercest officials in the persecution of Falun Gong, a peaceful meditation system based on the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance.
Zhang had served in China’s law enforcement system for decades. He was the Deputy Director of the Public Security Bureau of the Jinshantun District in Yichun City, Heilongjiang Province. His city has been harsh to Falun Gong practitioners since the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) started its persecution in July 1999. The police there have arrested, sentenced, tortured, and detained many Falun Gong practitioners. According to information available on the Minghui website, 32 practitioners from Yichun have died due to persecution.
In 2015 alone, Minghui reported 14 cases of arrest, detention, or home ransacking against 28 practitioners and family members in Yichun; four practitioners became severely injured or suffered mental collapse due to torture; and two were sentenced to prison.
Zhang has actively directed many rounds of persecution against local practitioners. For example, he was one of the key perpetrators against the family of practitioner Mr. Qin Yueming. Yichun police broke into Mr. Qin’s home in 2002. They beat his wife to the ground, dragged by her hair and slammed her head against the tile floor until she passed out. They beat the couple’s 14-year-old daughter and detained her for a month by falsely claiming she was over 18. Zhang himself supported the police chief in torturing Mr. Qin. They verbally abused and beat him, put him on a tiger bench, and tied him up tightly over 10 times (an extremely painful torture). The torture resulted in Mr. Qin becoming paralyzed, with multiple fractures to his legs and ribs. Even so, officials still sentenced him to ten years in prison, where he was tortured to death in 2011.
Brutality and Consequences
Besides Zhang, many CCP law enforcement agents in Yichun City involved in the persecution have also faced serious consequences. Another example is Li Weidong, a retired Deputy Major and Police Chief in Yichun, who was sentenced to 11 years in prison for accepting bribes.
In fact, as early as in 2008, 17 law enforcement agents in Yichun who had actively participated in the suppression have encountered various tragedies. Among them, three died sudden deaths or from terminal illness, two lost family members, seven developed severe illnesses, five were fired or otherwise forced to leave their jobs, and one was disciplined.
Other cities with severe persecution have also seen karmic retribution. In Qihetai, a city 200 miles from Yichun, a deputy major and police chief committed suicide to end his cancer pain. His deputy police chief also died of cancer. The vice president of the city’s intermediate court, a former police chief, was sentenced for colluding with gangsters.
Similar cases have also happened in many other places throughout China.
A Top-Down Persecution Network
Despite the warning signs, many people in the CCP’s law enforcement system continue to carry out the CCP’s persecution policy. Some are die-hard persecutors, some are enticed by lucrative financial incentives, and some simply blindly followed orders, as cogs in the CCP’s machine of brutality and lies.
This machine contains three major components: The CCP’s Political and Legal Affairs Committee (PLAC), the 610 Office, and the law enforcement body.
The PLAC is the command center and policy-making organ for the persecution. It is the highest organization within the CCP’s structure in the persecution. The 610 Office is the executive organ. The police, procuratorate (public prosecutors), court, and the judicial agencies are the actual implementers.
Four top-level CCP officials have led the persecution: Jiang Zemin, former CCP head who launched the persecution; Luo Gan and Zhou Yongkang, two consecutive Party Secretaries of the PLAC (as well as top officials of the “Central Leadership Team for Handling the Falun Gong Issue”); and Liu Jing, the head of the central 610 Office and Vice Minister of Public Security.
The PLAC organizes an annual nationwide conference every summer. The meeting is to mobilize and arrange the ongoing persecution of Falun Gong.
Nowadays, more and more people have realized that the CCP has no legal basis to persecute Falun Gong. The Epoch Times newspaper obtained an internal document from Dandong City, Liaoning Province on January 26, 2021. The document, issued by the Xingdong Street Neighborhood Management Office, stated, “There are many 'Falun Gong’ members in our area whom we can’t make to give up their belief. We require the local PLAC to recognize the challenges.”
Over the years, the PLAC has not only perpetuated the persecution, but also launched new forms of suppression. For example, it carried out a Knocking-on-Doors campaign (to harass Falun Gong practitioners at home) from 2017 to 2020. It has also carried out the Zero-Out campaign (to force all practitioners on a government blacklist to give up their belief) since 2020.
Justice Is Coming
Cases of karmic retribution to the CCP agents in the PLAC system, including the 610 Office, have accelerated.
Zhou Yongkang, one of the four top CCP officials driving the persecution of Falun Gong, was taken down under charges of abuse of power and corruption in 2013. The current top CCP leader recently conducted another campaign to “resolutely and thoroughly eradicate the influence of Zhou Yongkang” in the law enforcement system. This is to identify and take down those who are loyal to Zhou or who follow his policies.
The website of the CCP Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and State Supervision Commission announced on August 7, 2021 that in the first half of this year, more than 90 PLAC officials within the ranks at the division and bureau levels or higher were investigated and punished. Even those retired cannot escape – more than 30 percent of these disciplined officials were retired.
Minghui recently reported 56 instances of persecutors receiving retribution, which occurred from June 1 to July 7, 2021. Four are from the 610 Offices and 43 are from the PLAC system. Among them are the Party Secretary of the Henan Provincial PLAC Committee and the Deputy Party Secretary of the Heilongjiang Provincial PLAC Committee.
Because of these consequences, some people have dubbed the 610 Office the “death position.” Besides domestic pressure, these officers are also facing consequences overseas. That is, the international community has started sanctioning known persecutors in China.
On December 10, 2020, the U.S. administration designated Huang Yuanxiong, chief of the Wucun Police Station, Xiamen Public Security Bureau, Fujian Province for sanction. This is for his involvement in “severe violations of religious freedom of Falun Gong practitioners, namely his involvement in the detention and interrogation of Falun Gong practitioners for practicing their beliefs.”
On May 12, 2021, the U.S. administration sanctioned Yu Hui, the former Director of the Chengdu City 610 Office of Sichuan Province.
Falun Gong practitioners have also delivered several lists of CCP officials who have participated in the persecution to over 30 Democratic countries, requesting sanctions against them. The lists include many officials from the PLAC system and 610 Office organizations.
Some people in the PLAC system have persecuted Falun Gong practitioners for money or promotion, while others did so as they felt they were ordered to or even forced to do so. However, by acting against their own conscience and following the vicious CCP, the more bad deeds one has done, the more severe retribution one may encounter later.
A German case in 1992 serves as a good reference for those carrying out the CCP’s persecution policy. Two former East German border guards were sentenced for having shot and killed a fleeing refugee in February 1989, though they were just following orders. This verdict set a legal precedent whereby an official or staffer could be punished for actions that were not only legal under their country’s law, but also compulsory for them to carry out.
A law enforcement job can be a dangerous position, especially if an individual blindly follows the CCP’s orders to commit atrocities and harm the innocent.
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