6-10: An Overview
On June 10, 1999, bypassing procedures required by the Chinese constitution and other laws, and under direct orders from the then leader of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), Jiang Zemin, the CCP Central Committee formed the "610 Office," an organization with the sole mission of cracking down on Falun Gong.

Besides its central office in Beijing, the "610 Office" has branches in all the Chinese cities, villages, governmental agencies, institutions, and schools.

In terms of its establishment, structure, reporting mechanism, operation and founding mechanism, it is an organization that is allowed to exist outside of the established framework of the CCP and the Chinese government.

The power it has far exceeds that which is officially authorized under the Chinese constitution and other laws; furthermore, it is free from budgetary constraints. The "610 Office" has full control over any issue that has to do with Falun Gong, and has become an organization that Jiang Zemin uses personally and privately to persecute Falun Gong.

This organization does not have any legal basis. It is an organization that is very similar to Nazi Germany's Gestapo and the "Central Committee of the Cultural Revolution" during the Chinese Cultural Revolution.

Because of its special status and function, the "610 Office" should take major responsibility in the brutal treatment that numerous Falun Gong practitioners have suffered from. This ill treatment includes being tortured, even being tortured to death or to the point of permanent disability, being unlawfully detained, being sent to labor camps, and being forced to pay large sums of money as fines.

The Inner Workings of the '6-10 Office

The Crimes of the '6-10 Office'

Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (Republican of Florida) holds up a copy of House Concurrent Resolution 188 at a July 19 Rally in front of the US Capitol.

U.S. House Resolution Urges China to Cease Persecution of Falun Gong, Abolish 610 Office

A member of Congress who fled communist Cuba as a child has introduced a resolution urging communist China to end it's two year plus attack on innocent Falun Gong practitioners, and abolish the "610" Offices set up to oversee and carry out the persecution.

Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (Republican of Florida) introduced House Concurrent Resolution 188 (H. Con. Res. 188) on July 18.

Ros-Lehtinen, an outspoken opponent of human rights abuses by communist regimes, was joined by 63 of her colleagues as co-sponsors of H. Con. Res. 188.

Among those supporting her proposed resolution are Representatives Tom Lantos (Democrat of California) and Frank Wolf (Republican of Virginia), the co-chairmen of the Congressional Human Rights Caucus.

H. Con. Res. 188 calls on the United States to use "every appropriate public and private forum to urge" the Beijing regime "to release from detention all Falun Gong practitioners and put an end to the practices of torture and other cruel, inhumane, and degrading treatment against them and other prisoners of conscience."

The proposed resolution also would have the United States admonish China to "abide by the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by allowing Falun Gong practitioners to pursue their personal beliefs."

Turmoil in the Ranks: Luo Gan Faces Peer Opposition to "610 Office"

According to disclosures by Chinese governmental officials, two completely different voices have now emerged from within the governmental administration regarding how to handle Falun Gong.

One group has ordered the branches of the judicial system to release all Falun Gong practitioners that are being illegally detained, especially those with arbitrarily extended sentences.

The "610 Office" system headed by Luo Gan, however, has not only fought against this order, but has also told police stations and detention centers all over the nation that "there will be no punishment for torturing Falun Gong practitioners to death. Practitioners tortured to death will be recorded as suicide cases." and "Do not identify the body. Cremate locally."

Recently, the "610 Office" even secretly issued a command to sentence all practitioners refusing to denounce Falun Gong to life sentences.

610 Office Head Luo Gan Issues Secret Order: "Lifetime Incarceration" for Falun Gong

On September 16, 2001, the Falun Dafa Information Center reported that Luo Gan and the "610 Office" is determined to persecute Falun Gong and has secretly issued commands to fight against the release of Falun Gong practitioners demanding to "sentence all practitioners refusing to denounce Falun Gong to 'lifetime incarceration'," and to fabricate standard explanations for taking these actions in order to deceive the outside world. [Note: The "610 Office" specializes in persecuting Falun Gong and is headed by Luo Gan, the Secretary General of the Political and Judiciary Committee of the XX Party] According to sources from the Chinese judicial system, in early September, the "610 Office" headed by Luo Gan secretly issued a command to adopt "life sentences" for those Falun Gong practitioners who refused to be brainwashed. The command to detain Falun Gong practitioners until death was issued to each of the judicial systems from the "610 Office. It was a direct response to stronger and stronger pressure voiced from the international media concerning the illegal detentions--Chinese government policy makers had even issued public statements that illegally-detained Falun Gong practitioners should be set free with a verdict of "not guilty" especially those detained past their original sentences. In response, the secret command for "life sentences until death" began to circulate inside the Chinese judicial system.

News reports explained that the substance of the secret document was that whoever is found to be practicing Falun Gong will be secretly arrested and sentenced to a life sentence until death; the policemen who do not arrest Falun Gong practitioners will be discharged from the public police employment and their registered permanent residence will be revoked.

Expert analysis shows that as the appeal to stop persecuting Falun Gong from inside and outside of China grows stronger and stronger, and as Falun Gong practitioners become ever more determined, different voices are emerging within the Chinese governmental administration regarding how to handle Falun Gong. One thing is clear, Luo Gan, who initiated the murderous persecution of Falun Gong will fight to the death to insure its destruction.

There is wide documentation which shows that for the past two years Jiang Zemin's government has constantly issued various secret orders against Falun Gong through the "610 Office," from the directive to "Physically destroy Falun Gong practitioners" to the directive that "Practitioners tortured to death will be recorded as suicide cases" and also the directive to "Do not identify the body. Cremate locally." The rapid increase of death cases is a direct result of all these orders. Currently the verified death toll has come to 283 cases. The actual death toll is far greater in number. Insider news from the Chinese [party name omitted] Party says that the death toll has come to at least one thousand. Human rights observers are concerned that the latest secret order will result in even more deaths of Falun Gong practitioners.

There is now another document issued by the "610 Office"circulating inside the Chinese Judicial system. This document is addressed to each of the local executive departments such as labor camps, jails, and detention centers to learn the lesson of the Wanjia Labor Camp. It stipulates that, should any further deaths of Falun Gong practitioners occur, it has to be carefully reported level by level to the higher authorities in order to prepare an airtight explanation to the outside world. They also demanded that the propaganda department publicize the incident with the "explanation" as soon as possible. This document also stipulated that if overseas people are involved in Falun Gong activities in China, "measures have to be taken against them."

The "610 Office" was set up on June 10, 1999. It is a standing member of the Political and Judiciary Committee that reports to the Chinese [party name omitted] Party Central Committee. Headed by Luo Gan, it is the highest authority deployed by Jiang Zemin and his accomplices to persecute Falun Gong. It specializes in political persecution and it can completely override any law. In nature, it is very similar to the product of the Cultural Revolution -- the Cultural Revolution Leading Committee of the Chinese [party name omitted] Party Central Committee. All provinces, cities, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the Central Government have a local "610 Office" that reports to the local Chinese [party name omitted] Party Political and Judiciary Committee. Thus, the "610 Office" is a well-organized and independent system spanning from the Central Government to the local governments. It has absolute power over each level of administration in the Party, as well as over the political and judiciary branches. All plots for the framing of and persecution of Falun Gong practitioners have originated from the "610" during the past two years since its inception.

Top Chinese Official, Head of "610" Office, Hit by Torture Suit in U.S.

NEW YORK, Jul 19, 2001 -- (Agence France Presse) The Falun Gong spiritual movement said Wednesday it had filed a civil suit here against the visiting Public Security Chief of China's Hubei province alleging torture, murder and crimes against humanity.

The complaint was served to Zhao Zhifei in person late on Tuesday by Falun Gong practitioner Peng Liang, spokesman Adam Montanaro told AFP.

Falun Gong says Zhao serves as the second-in-command of the "610" office for Hubei Province, a unit set up by the central government to carry out and crackdown against Falun Gong and other spiritual practices.

Zhao is being targeted under the Torture Victim Protection Act and the Alien Tort Claims Act and the case was filed in the U.S. District Court for the southern district of New York, Montanaro said.

The legislation allows American jurisdiction over acts of torture committed outside the country. A lawsuit can only proceed, however, if defendants are served with legal papers while in the United States.

Falun Gong members planned to gather at a rally outside Zhao's New York hotel later on Wednesday to official publicize the suit.

Since the Chinese government banned Falun Gong […] in July 1999, more than 10,000 Falun Gong members have been sent to "reeducation through labor" camps, the practitioners say. ((c) 2001 Agence France Presse)