(Minghui.org) July 20 this year marked the 23rd anniversary since the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) began to suppress Falun Gong in July 1999. Over the past two weeks, Falun Gong practitioners in 38 countries have compiled and submitted a new list of perpetrators to their respective governments, urging them to hold the perpetrators accountable. The practitioners propose barring the perpetrators and their families from entering those 38 countries, as well as freezing their assets in those countries.
Among these countries were the Five Eyes Alliance, namely, the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, and 23 countries in the European Union, including France, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, Poland, Belgium, Sweden, Austria, Ireland, Denmark, Finland, Czechia, Portugal, Greece, Hungary, Slovakia, Luxembourg, Croatia, Slovenia, Latvia, Estonia, Cyprus, and Malta. In addition, 10 countries in Asia, Europe, and the Americas, including Japan, South Korea, Indonesia, Switzerland, Norway, Liechtenstein, Israel, Mexico, Chile, and Dominica, were involved. Latvia, Chile, and Dominica participated in this effort for the first time.
All the perpetrators have participated in the persecution of Falun Gong in China. The submitted list included details of the perpetrators’ crimes compiled from Minghui reports. U.S. State Department officials said three years ago that the information provided by Falun Gong practitioners in the past was credible and presented professionally, which could serve as a template for other organizations.
The annual human rights reports and religious reports published by the US government cite statistics from the persecution (such as death cases, number of practitioners sentenced, and number of practitioners detained), as well as individual cases, directly from Minghui.
Similar to previous submissions of such lists, the new list named CCP officials involved in the persecution at different levels of government and in different agencies and organizations. Here are some examples:
* Tang Yijun: secretary of the Party Leadership Group and minister of the Ministry of Justice, member of the Political and Legal Affairs Committee (PLAC) of the CCP Central Committee* Liu Zhenyu: Former deputy minister of Justice, member of the Party Leadership Group* Shao Lei: Former director of the Prison Administration Bureau of the Ministry of Justice* Xu Jiaxin: secretary of the Party Leadership Group and president of the Higher Court of Jilin Province* Ding Shunsheng: secretary of the Party Leadership Group and chief prosecutor of the Hebei Provincial Procuratorate* Wei Yanming: president of Hebei Provincial High Court, secretary of the Party Leadership Group, member of the Provincial PLAC* Zhang Jiatian: secretary of the Party Leadership Group and president of Shandong High Court, president of Shandong Judge Training Institute* Bi Baowen: Former vice governor of Heilongjiang Province, member of the Party Leadership Group, deputy Party secretary of the PLAC, director of the Provincial Police Department, Party secretary of the Party Committee, and chief inspector* Ma Tingdong: deputy director of the 610 Office of Liaoning Province, deputy secretary of Liaoning PLAC* Lin Zhimin: secretary of the Party Leadership Group and director of the Liaoning Provincial Department of Justice, Political director of the Provincial Prison Administration Bureau, member of the Liaoning PLAC* Lin Fenghai: Former member of the Standing Committee of the Shandong Provincial Party Committee, secretary of Shandong PLAC, vice chairman of the Provincial Political Consultative Conference* Yi Zhenli: deputy Party secretary of Henan Provincial PLAC, director of 610 Office* Fan Huaping: member of the Party Leadership Group of the Shandong Provincial Government, vice governor, deputy secretary of Shandong PLAC, Party secretary and director of the Provincial Police Department, president of Shandong Police College* Liu Jianmin: deputy director and deputy Party secretary of the Hebei Provincial Department of Justice, director of the Provincial Prison Administration Bureau, secretary of the Party Committee* Feng Gang: member of the Party Committee and deputy director of the Jilin Provincial Department of Justice, Party secretary and director of the Provincial Prison Administration Bureau* Liu Yazhou: deputy mayor of Harbin City of Heilongjiang Province, member of the Harbin Party Group, director and Party secretary of the Harbin Police Department, chief inspector, director of the Office of the Municipal Administrative Law Enforcement Security Coordination Leading Group* Wu Zhe: Former chief procurator of Dalian City Procuratorate, Liaoning Province* Jian Biao: deputy Party secretary of the Shenyang Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) of Liaoning Province, former Party secretary of the Chaoyang City of Liaoning Province* Yang Mingxin: director of Heilongjiang Women's Prison* Shi Genghui: Political director of Heilongjiang Women’s Prison* Tao Shuping: head of the ninth cell of Heilongjiang Women’s PrisonMiddle and lower level perpetrators in the list were not included here.
The sanctioning of human rights violators has been implemented in more and more countries. The US Global Magnitsky Act passed in 2016 was originally designed to remain effective for six years and expire on December 23, 2022. But the U.S. Congress updated the law this year to make it permanent.
US State Department officials encouraged religious and faith organizations to submit lists of human rights perpetrators. They said there are a variety of legal measures available to hold the perpetrators accountable.
Other than the Global Magnitsky Act, there is Section 7031(c) of the Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Appropriations Act related to human rights abuse. Furthermore, there are laws on general immigration and border security. There is always at least a legal measure applicable, said an official at the US State Department. Although legal procedures involving the Global Magnitsky Act can be complicated, other laws are easier to implement and can apply to both the perpetrators and their family members. There is also no need to provide explanations when denying a visa since obtaining visa approval is a privilege. The perpetrators themselves would know why their visa applications may have been denied, even though a reason may not be publicized.
As of now, human rights accountability acts have been adopted in the US, Canada, the UK, Australia, and all 27 EU countries. Although not part of the EU, Norway also has the Act on the Implementation of International Sanctions for human rights violators. Parliament and human rights groups in Japan are also discussing similar laws. It’s said that the Japanese government can refer to existing laws related to foreign trade to sanction human rights violators through freezing assets or denying entry.
The Western countries are also sharing information on human rights perpetrators. US, Canada, and the UK have collaborated on this closely with regular, annual inter-government meetings. Persecuted religious and faith groups (including Falun Gong) are invited. In these meetings, policies and the progress of human rights accountability acts are discussed. Questions and suggestions from persecuted groups are also considered.
In the second annual International Religious Freedom Summit held in Washington DC at the end of June 2022, sanctions against perpetrators who deny religious freedom was a hot topic and it was well received by the conference parliaments. US State Department officials on security and human rights also visited Falun Gong practitioners’ booth. After hearing about the suppression in China, they said the persecution was unimaginable and is a genocide.
Any form of persecution of Falun Gong practitioners is illegal and the perpetrators will be eventually held accountable. Here we warn the perpetrators not to take chances since it is only a matter of time before they will be included on the sanction list in Western countries. Continued involvement in the persecution would prevent the individuals and their families from traveling, studying, conducting business, or settling down in those countries. By stopping their misconduct, these people could do things to make up for the losses they have caused to Falun Gong practitioners.
In the battle between good and evil, we are all choosing a side. The perpetrators, including those in law enforcement, prosecutors, judges, and detention facility guards, are supposed to protect and uphold justice for the innocent. However, under the directive of the 610 Office, they have been following the persecution policy to harm innocent practitioners. When the day comes to hold the CCP accountable for its crimes against practitioners, they will not escape justice. We sincerely hope they stop following the CCP to do bad deeds so as to help Falun Gong practitioners and themselves as well.
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