(Minghui.org) According to a report published by Minghui.org, 1,184 cases of innocent Chinese citizens sentenced for practicing Falun Gong were reported in 2021. These practitioners are scattered across 27 provinces or province-level cities, and come from all walks of life, including government officials, professors, doctors, retired military officials, business professionals, and more.
The persecution of Falun Gong by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has been going on since July 1999 and remains unabated today. In recent years, numerous government officials involved in the suppression have been taken down. Even high-ranking officials such as Zhou Yongkang (former Secretary of Central Political and Legal Affairs Committee), Li Dongsheng (former Vice Minister of Public Security), Xu Caihou (former Vice Chairman of Central Military Commission), Bo Xilai (former Party Secretary of Chongqing), and Sun Lijun (former Vice Minister of Public Security) are no exception. If these are not enough, the consequences of the Nazi officials for genocide could also serve as a lesson for CCP judges today.
Millions of Jews were killed by Nazis during the Holocaust Era. During the subsequent 12 Nuremberg trials in 1947 after World War II ended, the third trial between March 5 and December 4, 1947, was against 16 German jurists and lawyers who were involved in the war crimes. Nine of them were officials of the Reich Ministry of Justice, while the others were prosecutors and judges of the Special Courts and People's Courts of Nazi Germany. Even in court, however, some of the defendants were not convinced: they did not kill Jews themselves, burn Jewish churches, or invade foreign territories. Why were they held accountable?
Hitler's Justice: The Courts of the Third Reich, a book written by German professor Ingo Mueller, detailed how these 16 German lawyers and jurists “willingly cooperated with the draconian regime of the Nazis and leaped to the task of providing the regulations that spelled out Nazi policies.”
The role of those in the legal profession in general and the actions of those defendants were critical in implementing Nazi’s “racial purity” program. “Conforming to new laws, decrees, and norms, lawyers helped to oust Jewish colleagues from the courts, professional associations, and law firms. They were motivated by prejudice against Jews and new opportunities that opened up for their career and professional advancement,” wrote an article on the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum website titled “Law, Justice, and the Holocaust.”
According to Holocaust Encyclopedia, these 16 jurists and lawyers were indicted with three counts of crimes: “conspiracy to commit war crimes and crimes against humanity,” “war crimes against civilians of territories occupied by Germany and against soldiers of countries at war with Germany,” and “crimes against humanity, against German civilians and nationals of occupied territories.”
In addition, seven of the sixteen defendants faced a fourth charge of possessing membership in SS (Schutzstaffel, Protection Squadron), SD (Sicherheitsdienst, Nazi intelligence service), or the leadership corps of the Nazi Party, all of which were declared criminal organizations a year before the trial by the International Military Tribunal. Those defendants’ affiliation with the criminal organizations explained how they manipulated laws to fit the Nazi’s agenda. They pledged allegiance to Hitler with their life. According to Hitler's Justice, 93% of court staff working in Westphalia were members of the Nazi Party or associated organizations; 302 out of 309 jurists in Bamburg Appeal Court were Nazi Party members, and the percentage was 100% in Schweinfurt Court.
Unfortunately, similar situations have occurred in China, where the CCP has been waging a nationwide, systematic attack on Falun Gong practitioners since 1999 for their belief in the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. During this ongoing persecution, numerous CCP officials blindly implemented the persecution policy, resulting in the arrests, sentencing, torture, or even killing of innocent practitioners.
“The most significant perpetrators of these crimes are well known... But less known are the contributions of “ordinary” people—doctors, lawyers, teachers, civil servants, officers, and other professionals throughout German society—whose individual actions, when taken together, resulted in dire consequences. Put simply, the Holocaust could not have happened without them,” wrote an article on the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum website titled “Law, Justice, and the Holocaust.”
Similar to the Nazi Party, anyone who joined the CCP has to swear his or her loyalty to the regime. As described in the Admission Oath, the members vow to “carry out the Party's decisions, strictly observe Party discipline, guard Party secrets, be loyal to the Party, work hard, fight for communism throughout my life, be ready at all times to sacrifice my all for the Party and the people, and never betray the Party.”
In the name of people’s interest, the CCP has misled a large number of people to persecute innocent lives, causing countless tragedies. Among them, one of the worst is organ harvesting from living Falun Gong practitioners. As more than 390 million Chinese announced to quit the CCP organizations – which also include the junior organizations of the Youth League and Young Pioneer, it is time to sever ties with the CCP toward a better society in China and around the world.
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Category: Perspective
