Chinese Officials Investigated for Corruption Assisted in the Persecution of Falun Gong

Chen Guanghui, the former Director of the Provincial Prison Administration Bureau in Henan, Li Jingyan, the former Director of the Provincial Prison Administration Bureau in Guangdong, and Yu Airong, the former Director of the Provincial Prison Administration Bureau in Jiangsu (from left to right), have all been investigated for alleged legal violations. They were implicated in the persecution of Falun Gong. The Epoch Times

In recent years, Chinese probes of corrupt officials and many directors of provincial prison administrative bureaus have uncovered “serious violations of principles and laws,” according to announcements of various provincial anti-graft organizations under the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

The provincial prison administrative bureau is the higher-level authority overseeing the jails within the province. Chinese law stipulates that offices of justice are responsible for managing prisons in their own jurisdiction through their prison administration arms.

These individuals have also been on the investigation list of the World Organization to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong (WOIPFG) in an effort to amass evidence against responsible parties and commence criminal prosecutions for their active role in the persecution of Falun Gong adherents.

WOIPFG is an international non-government organization with the mission to restore justice by systematically researching and compiling information on all institutions, organizations, and individuals involved in the persecution of Falun Gong in China.

Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is a mind and body cultivation based on universal principles of truth, compassion, and tolerance. After the introduction of the practice in 1992, it gained 70–100 million practitioners in China before July 1999, reported the Falun Dafa Information Center.

Jiang Zemin, former leader of the CCP, initiated the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners in July 1999. Despite his death in November 2022, the campaign has continued to this day, and numerous victims have lost their lives while in detention.

One of the more recent victims was Pang Xun, a 30-year-old radio host in Sichuan who distributed Falun Gong flyers. After police arbitrarily arrested him on his way to work, Mr. Pang was detained in Leshan Prison and beaten to death by guards within approximately four months. His case was made public in February 2023.

This is yet another tragic case of persecution against Falun Gong practitioners within the prison system in China. WOIPFG is treating this as a significant homicide case and intends to pursue a thorough investigation.

According to a WOIPFG announcement, key entities and individuals involved in this case include Liu Zhicheng, the director of the Sichuan Provincial Department of Justice; Chen Zhilin, the party committee secretary and director of the Sichuan Provincial Prison Management Bureau; Qin Keping, the director of Jiazhou Prison in Sichuan Province; and Liu Shoucheng, the former party committee secretary of Chengdu City’s Political and Legal Affairs Commission, among others. “Further inquiries are underway to identify additional individuals responsible for this incident,” stated WOIPFG.

Dr. Wang Zhiyuan, president of WOIPFG, speaking in Berlin on Oct. 28, 2016. Jason Wang/Epoch Times

Li Jingyan, Guangdong Province

Li Jingyan, the director of the Guangdong Provincial Prison Administration Bureau, was ousted from his position on Aug. 25.

Li had various positions in the prison administrative bureau of Guangdong Province since late 2000.

While in office, Li Jingyan actively supported the CCP’s persecution of Falun Gong, and in some cases, the persecution continued to follow Falun Gong adherents after they were released from prison, according to documents on Minghui.org, a website dedicated to reporting on the Falun Gong community around the world.

For instance, Jiang Hanquan was abducted in December 2014 by the police for hanging literary couplet banners containing truth, compassion, and tolerance—the universal principles honored by Falun Gong adherents—encouraging virtuous behavior, by the door of his own home during the Chinese Lunar New Year.

Mr. Jiang, a peasant and a practitioner of Falun Gong from Puning City, Guangdong Province, was unjustly sentenced to 3 years and 6 months in prison on April 9, 2015.

Mr. Jiang’s health had already severely deteriorated due to the mistreatment he endured during the three years of imprisonment. The local Political and Legal Affairs Commission continued the surveillance and harassment of Mr. Jiang after he was released at the end of 2017, leading to his death in January 2019, reported the WOIPFG.

Between January and July 2014, at least 57 Falun Gong practitioners in Guangdong Province were subjected to abduction, unlawful court proceedings and sentencing, home invasions, surveillance, and unwarranted intrusions by local authorities, as reported by Minghui.org.

Yu Airong, Jiangsu Province

Yu Airong, the former director of the Jiangsu Provincial Prison Administration Bureau, received a 12-year and 6-month prison sentence on Aug. 22 for charges of corruption, accepting bribes, and abusing his authority to grant unauthorized paroles, reported the Chinese media The Paper.

He was appointed the deputy director in August 1997, and director in January 2001, of the Jiangsu Provincial Prison Administration Bureau.

During Mr. Yu’s tenure, at least 16 Falun Gong practitioners in various prisons throughout Jiangsu Province died from prison torture. By 2013, a total of 515 Falun Gong practitioners were documented to have been illegally held in different prisons and mental hospitals across Jiangsu Province, reported Minghui.org.

Falun Gong adherents gather at a candlelight vigil in memory of Falun Gong practitioners who passed away because of the Chinese Communist Party's ongoing 24-year persecution of the spiritual discipline at the National Mall in Washington on July 20, 2023. Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times

In July 2004, practitioner Chen Guanghui was subjected to persecution in Suzhou Prison, rendering him in a vegetative state. For over two years, his survival depended mainly on blood transfusions and oxygen support.

Mr. Chen, manager and deputy chief of the Computer Science Department at the Lianyungang Branch of the China Construction Bank, passed away on Dec. 12, 2006, at the age of 40.

Shi Ying, Henan Province

Shi Ying, a member of the Party Committee of the Henan Provincial Department of Justice, and the Party Secretary and Director of the Henan Provincial Prison Administration Bureau, faced investigation for significant disciplinary and legal violations on June 24, 2022.

He played a key role in the persecution of Falun Gong within the Henan provincial prison system, documented by Minghui.org.

By December 2013, at least 12 Falun Gong practitioners died in Henan prisons. Between 2015 and 2021, 344 Falun Gong practitioners were unlawfully sentenced and incarcerated in Henan’s prisons, many died during the imprisonment, reported Minghui.org.

For instance, Zhu Ying, a 53-year-old Falun Gong practitioner from Xinxiang City, died in less than six months after being unlawfully confined on November 30, 2010.

Ms. Zhu was formerly honored as a national labor role model and served as a delegate to China’s rubber-stamp legislature, the National People’s Congress.

Police abducted her in the vicinity of the city sports center on April 2, 2010. She was subjected to an unjust 8-year sentence in October that year.

Other individuals who are also being investigated by the WOIPFG and were ousted by the regime include Ma Lin, who retired as party secretary and director of Yunnan Provincial Prison Administration Bureau in 2016.

During his more than a decade in office, Yunnan Province No. 1 Prison and Yunnan Province No. 2 Women’s Prison killed at least 23 Falun Gong practitioners, and caused permanent injury to numerous others, according to Minghui.org.

Zhao Jincheng, party secretary and director of the Heilongjiang Provincial Department of Justice, Secretary of the Party Committee of the Provincial Prison Administration Bureau, and the First Political Commissar, was put under investigation for alleged legal violations on Nov. 6, 2021.

He was responsible for multiple large-scale abductions of Falun Gong practitioners, according to documentation on Minghui.org.

In 2006, as the party secretary and director of the Mudanjiang City Public Security Bureau, he was granted an application to the Heilongjiang Provincial Public Security Department to oversee the arrests of dozens of Falun Gong practitioners, stated Minghui.org.

Xu Hongguang, the former deputy secretary and director of the Inner Mongolia Prison Administration Bureau, became the subject of an investigation in June 2020, and was formally arrested on the charge of alleged bribery in January 2021, reported the Inner Mongolia Supreme People’s Procuratorate.

Dozens, and sometimes even hundreds of Falun Gong practitioners are unlawfully sentenced and subjected to persecution in prisons each year in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, reported by Minghui.org.

Li Jiesi contributed to this report.