China’s Former Minister of Justice Investigated for Corruption

A paramilitary guard stands at a security door inside the No.1 Detention Center during a government guided tour in Beijing on Oct. 25, 2012. Ed Jones/AFP via Getty Images

China recently purged another justice minister, the third in a row. Analysts said that the prisons under the jurisdiction of the minister of justice are among the worst human rights abuses in China and that the downfall of these high-ranking officials is retribution, illustrating the perils of serving in the administration of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

The Central Commission for Discipline Inspection announced on its website on April 2 that it is investigating former Minister of Justice Tang Yijun for alleged serious disciplinary and legal violations—a euphemism for corruption.  Mr. Tang was removed from his position in February 2023.

Before Mr. Tang, Beijing dismissed former justice ministers Wu Aiying and Fu Zhenghua.

Ms. Wu, a former Minister of Justice from 2005 to 2017, was expelled from the party on Oct. 14, 2017, due to serious disciplinary violations.

Mr. Fu, appointed after Ms. Wu from 2018 to 2020, was investigated for suspected serious disciplinary and legal violations in October 2021. In September 2022, Mr. Fu was sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve, along with life imprisonment.

Chinese Prisons Most Corrupt: Analysts

Mr. Tang started his career in Zhejiang Province, where Xi Jinping was the governor and party secretary at the time. Therefore, according to Yang Shan (pseudonym), a journalist who spoke to the Chinese language edition of The Epoch Times, he was a close ally of Xi.

He explained that Mr. Tang’s fate illustrates that being an official in the regime can have fatal consequences.

He said, “If you can avoid it, you should ... Being an official of the CCP is like boarding a pirate ship.”

Lawyer Huang Tian (pseudonym) told The Epoch Times that The public security, procuratorate, and judiciary are the CCP’s enforcers of human rights abuses. The minister of Justice mainly oversees prisons, with local judicial departments managing prisons in their respective provinces. Prisons are the darkest and most devoid of human rights, serving as the most severe locations for the persecution of various religious and rights activists.

“Prisons’ brainwashing, torture, and forced ideological transformation demonstrate the most deprived of human rights and the most malevolent environments in China,” said Mr. Huang.

Mr. Yang also agreed that Chinese prisons were the CCP’s most corrupt aspect. He said, “The financial management of each prison is in disarray, with rampant corruption issues.” For instance, inmates could seek reduced sentences through bribery and gift-giving. “The primary issue of the judicial system seems to lie within the prisons,” said Mr. Yang.

The justice minister imposes strict control over Chinese lawyers. Numerous lawyers extensively involved in cases related to Falun Gong, civil rights, and other so-called sensitive cases have had their licenses revoked, leaving them in dire straits.

The minister of justice revoked Mr. Huang’s lawyer’s license in 2021, shortly after Mr. Tang assumed the role in 2020.

Mr. Huang said Mr. Tang’s corrupt practices led to his downfall, which is “a form of karmic retribution,” he remarked.

Over 1,500 Falun Gong practitioners from over 30 countries hold a candlelight vigil in front of the Chinese Consulate for those who have died during the persecution in China and demanding that Jiang Zemin be brought to justice in San Francisco on Oct. 22, 2016. Benjamin Chasteen/Epoch Times

Retribution

A Chinese lawyer Mr. Wu (pseudonym) told The Epoch Times that the regime’s anti-corruption campaigns could impact anyone within the CCP, but the downfall of the Minister of Justice carries more significant news repercussions. He said, “It becomes a laughing matter when discussing how many lawyer licenses were issued with the name of the Minister of Justice written on them.”

During Mr. Tang’s tenure as Minister of Justice from April 29, 2020, to February 2023, revisions were made to the “Prison Scoring and Assessment of Criminals Work Regulations,” which led to intensified persecution of illegally jailed Falun Gong practitioners.

Since the late former Chinese leader Jiang Zemin started the persecution campaign against Falun Gong, numerous followers of Falun Gong have been subject to the torture, brainwashing, and imprisonment of the Chinese legal apparatuses. Many died from the brutality and were subject to live organ harvesting.

Falun Gong is a mind and body practice that follows the universal principles of truth, compassion, and tolerance, which have been inherited in the 5,000 years of Chinese culture and history. Since its introduction in 1992, the cultivation of Falun Gong has won millions of Chinese followers and benefited people worldwide.

However, out of jealousy, Jiang initiated the persecution campaign in July 1999 with an all-out effort of the entire state machine smearing Falun Gong and its followers to this day.

To raise awareness, bring the perpetrators to justice, and stop the persecution, Falun Gong adherents around the world have tirelessly exposed the crimes of the CCP entities engaging in the persecution campaign.

In July 2022, Falun Gong practitioners in 38 countries submitted an updated list of perpetrators to their respective governments, urging that those on the list (and their family members) be barred from entry and their assets frozen. Among the listed perpetrators was Mr. Tang.

Ms. Wu’s nearly 12-year tenure as the Minister of Justice was also a period marked by severe persecution of Falun Gong practitioners within the prison and labor camp systems under the ministry’s jurisdiction.

On July 20, 2021, Falun Gong practitioners from 37 countries reported Ms. Wu to their respective governments and requested sanctions against her.

Mr. Fu is also a key perpetrator in the persecution of Falun Gong. In 2021, he was reported to governments in 29 countries by Falun Gong practitioners for closely following the persecution policy of the regime through the years.

Haizhong Ning and Luo Ya contributed to this report.