Former Head of the Shenyang City Judicial Bureau Exposes the Gestapo Like 610 Office

After Chen Yonglin, senior diplomat from the Chinese Consulate in Sydney, Australia and Hao Fengjun, a police officer with the Tianjin City 610 Office, resigned from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), Han Guangsheng, the former head of the Shenyang City Judicial Bureau and the deputy head of the Shenyang City Police Department in Liaoning Province recently brought to light some inside facts about the persecution of Falun Gong by the CCP.

About the 610 Office

Han Guangsheng said that the 610 Office name originates from its founding date, June 10th. The central 610 Office was founded on June 10th, 1999. Local offices have varying names such as "611 Office" or "621 Office." The local offices were established at different times as their names reflect, but their organisation and mission are essentially the same. They are under the jurisdiction of the Central Party Committee, and members of the 610 Office come from the police department, the Procuratorate, the courts and the Judicial Bureau. These offices specialise in the persecution of Falun Gong and exist outside of the law. They have power over local government departments and bureaus.

In Shenyang City, the deputy secretary of the Shenyang City Political and Judiciary Committee is in charge of the "611 Office." The Municipal Party Office and several members of the Political and Judiciary Committee take care of the daily affairs of the office. The police departments, the Procuratorate, the courts, the National Security Bureau and the Civil Administration Bureau are member units of the "611 Office." The "611 Office" often passes down orders from government departments on a higher level and arranges political assignments in Shenyang City. Those include three areas of responsibility: First, arrest Falun Gong practitioners who go to Beijing to appeal; second, detain and reform Falun Gong practitioners; third, sentence Falun Gong practitioners to forced labour or prison.

The "611 Office" often holds meetings that require attendance from not only its member units, but also from the district and county government departments. The most important assignment is preventing Falun Gong practitioners from going to Beijing to appeal for a stop to the persecution. All central to local governmental levels have caps that stipulate the maximum number of practitioners who go to appeal before punitive actions are taken against the responsible government officials.

According to Han Guangsheng, the 610 Office does not have any published official documents, but the heads of the office give their words as direction for action. In China, the officials' words are documented and used as official documents. There are also situation notices, which include summaries of the current situation, and also directives.

Most of the orders are orally communicated. There are two parts to the assignments. The first part is arranged by the city Party committee, which issues the requirements to be met. The Liaoning Province Judicial Bureau makes administrative arrangements and exchanges "tips" on the persecution. It holds meetings, and the officials give speeches to plan the persecution. To illustrate the concept of caps, if three or more Falun Gong practitioners from Shenyang City go to Beijing to appeal in one month, the deputy secretary of the Shenyang City Party Committee and even the secretary would have to go to the provincial government and engage in self-criticism. To keep their posts and to "save face," the city officials use a large portion of its police manpower and financial resources to intercept Falun Gong practitioners who go to Beijing to appeal. The cap for Shenyang City is three. The head of one town government was removed from his post because one Falun Gong practitioner from his town went repeatedly to Beijing to appeal.

The Judicial System Participates in the Persecution of Falun Gong

According to Han Guangsheng, he held several major responsibilities as head of the Judicial Bureau, including upholding the legal system, legal education, and overseeing lawyers, notarisations and city-level prisons and labour camps. There were four labour camps in Shenyang City, three of which held Falun Gong practitioners. Between 1999 and 2001 when he left for Canada, between four and five hundred practitioners were held at the forced labour camps.

Han Guangsheng said that due to orders from the central government, at first only the police participated in persecuting Falun Gong and the judicial system did not take part in it. The number of detained Falun Gong practitioners, however, exceeded the custody centres' and the detention centres' capacity controlled by the police system. The deputy secretary of the Shenyang City Party Committee at the time came to Han Guangsheng and asked him to assign a labour camp to detain Falun Gong practitioners.

The four labour camps in Shenyang City had never previously held any women, as female detainees were sent to the provincial labour camp(s). Han Guangsheng was ordered to detain female Falun Gong practitioners. At first he objected and said labour camps are used to hold criminals with minor offences and are not used to hold Falun Gong practitioners. Falun Gong practitioners didn't commit any crimes and therefore should not be held at labour camps. The Liaoning Province Judicial Bureau held a meeting and ordered the Shenyang City government to create places to detain Falun Gong practitioners. Han Guangsheng could no longer resist. If he did, he would have been regarded as a dissident and be severely punished. He therefore used the Longshan Forced Labour Camp to detain Falun Gong practitioners.

Beating and verbal abuse of Falun Gong practitioners are commonplace at the labour camp. Sometimes other tortures are also used against the practitioners. Han Guangsheng gave an example. On July 15th, 2001, a 15-year-old girl named Han Tianzi firmly refused to write a guarantee statement to renounce Falun Gong as demanded by the labour camp authorities. The authorities, including Bai Suxia, deputy head of the Longshan Forced Labour Camp, shocked her with electric baton(s). This incident triggered a group hunger strike among several other Falun Gong practitioners who were being held at the labour camp.

Masanjia Forced Labour Camp and Gao Rongrong's case

According to the best of Han Guangsheng's knowledge, the Masanjia Forced Labour Camp is most severe in its savage abuse of Falun Gong practitioners. The Masanjia Forced Labour Camp is under direct management of the Liaoning Province Judicial Bureau. In order to improve the "reformation" rate, the labour camp authorities used various torture methods on the practitioners that were unknown to Han Guangsheng at first. Later, the Liaoning Province Judicial Bureau demanded that city government officials visit the Masanjia Forced Labour Camp to learn "tips on reform work." Zhang Xiansheng, the deputy head of Shenyang City Judicial Bureau went to the Masanjia Forced Labour Camp. When he returned, he said that the most important tip from Masanjia Labour Camp was to use electric batons. He said that Shenyang City should also use them. In other words, the reason for the high "reform" rate at the Masanjia Forced Labour Camp is the use of torture.

Practitioners who refused to be reformed at the Masanjia Forced Labour Camp were sent to Shenyang City. One night Han Guangsheng went to visit the practitioners. Two practitioners shared one room. He remembered one practitioner with the last name Zhao, and another practitioner whose last name was Yin. They told him about the tortures they suffered at the Masanjia Forced Labour Camp, including having their inner thighs pinched, being forced to stay in a half-squat position in the restroom, doing push-ups in the snow and being shocked with high voltage electric batons.

Han Guangsheng told the guards to provide them with pens and paper and asked them to document these incidents. Several days later Han Guangsheng turned the practitioners' documentation, along with his own note, over to the head of Liaoning Province Judicial Bureau who, as a result, took a disliking to Han Guangsheng.

Han Guangsheng said he read online that a Falun Gong practitioner named Gao Rongrong had suffered facial disfigurement from electric shock by the police, and that she was tortured to death on June 16th. He was shocked by the news because it happened at the Longshan Forced Labour Camp, formerly under his supervision. Although it took place after he left China, he said that he believed this type of incident is highly likely to have taken place.