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The 610 Office was a security agency in the
People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...
. Named for the date of its creation on June 10, 1999, it was established for the purpose of coordinating and implementing the
persecution of Falun Gong The persecution of Falun Gong is the campaign initiated in 1999 by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to eliminate the new religious movement Falun Gong in China, maintaining a doctrine of state atheism. It is characterized by a multifacete ...
. The 610 Office was the implementation arm of the Central Leading Group on Dealing with the
Falun Gong Falun Gong, also called Falun Dafa, is a new religious movement founded by its leader Li Hongzhi in China in the early 1990s. Falun Gong has its global headquarters in Dragon Springs, a compound in Deerpark, New York, United States, near t ...
(CLGDF), also known as the Central Leading Group on Dealing with Heretical Religions, a leading small group of the
Chinese Communist Party The Communist Party of China (CPC), also translated into English as Chinese Communist Party (CCP), is the founding and One-party state, sole ruling party of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Founded in 1921, the CCP emerged victorious in the ...
(CCP). Because it was a CCP-led office with no formal legal mandate, it is sometimes described as an extralegal organisation. The central 610 Office has traditionally been headed by a high-ranking member of the CCP Politburo Standing Committee, and frequently directed other state and party organs in the
anti-Falun Gong campaign The persecution of Falun Gong is the campaign initiated in 1999 by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to eliminate the new religious movement Falun Gong in China, maintaining a doctrine of state atheism. It is characterized by a multifaceted ...
. It was closely associated with the powerful
Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission The Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission (CPLC), commonly referred to as ''Zhongyang Zhengfawei'' (, literally "Central Poli-Legal Commission") in Chinese, is the organization under the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Part ...
of the CCP. Local 610 Offices were also established at provincial, district, municipal and neighborhood levels, and were estimated to number approximately 1,000 across the country. The main functions of the 610 Offices included coordinating anti-Falun Gong propaganda, surveillance and intelligence collection, and the punishment and "reeducation" of Falun Gong adherents. The office was reportedly involved in the extrajudicial sentencing, coercive reeducation, torture, and sometimes death of Falun Gong practitioners. Since 2003, the 610 Office's mission has been expanded to include targeting other religious and
qigong Qigong ()) is a system of coordinated body-posture and movement, breathing, and meditation said to be useful for the purposes of health, spirituality, and martial arts training. With roots in Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chinese medicine, Chin ...
groups deemed heretical or harmful by the Communist Party (CCP), though Falun Gong remains its main priority. In March 2018, the office was reorganized and its functions transferred to the
Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission The Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission (CPLC), commonly referred to as ''Zhongyang Zhengfawei'' (, literally "Central Poli-Legal Commission") in Chinese, is the organization under the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Part ...
and the
Ministry of Public Security Ministry of Public Security can refer to: * Ministry of Justice and Public Security (Brazil) * Ministry of Public Security of Burundi * Ministry of Public Security (Chile) * Ministry of Public Security (China) * Ministry of Public Security of Co ...
.


Background

Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is a form of spiritual
qigong Qigong ()) is a system of coordinated body-posture and movement, breathing, and meditation said to be useful for the purposes of health, spirituality, and martial arts training. With roots in Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chinese medicine, Chin ...
practice that involves meditation, energy exercises, and a moral philosophy drawing on Buddhist tradition. The practice was introduced by
Li Hongzhi Li Hongzhi ( zh, c=李洪志; born 1951 or 1952) is a Chinese religious leader. He is the founder and leader of Falun Gong, or ''Falun Dafa'', a United States–based new religious movement. Li began his public teachings of Falun Gong on 13 May ...
in Northeast China in the spring of 1992, towards the end of China's "qigong boom." Falun Gong initially enjoyed considerable official support during the early years of its development, and amassed a following of millions. By the mid-1990s, however, Chinese authorities sought to rein in the influence of qigong practices, enacting more stringent requirements on the country's various qigong denominations. In 1996, possibly in response to the escalating pressure to formalize ties with the party-state, Falun Gong filed to withdraw from the state-run qigong association. Following this severance of ties to the state, the group came under increasing criticism and surveillance from the country's security apparatus and propaganda department. Falun Gong books were banned from further publication in July 1996, and state-run news outlets began criticizing the group as a form of "feudal superstition," whose "theistic" orientation was at odds with the official ideology and national agenda. On April 25, 1999, over 10,000 Falun Gong adherents demonstrated quietly near the
Zhongnanhai Zhongnanhai () is a compound that houses the offices of and serves as a residence for the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the State Council of the People's Republic of China, State Council. It was a former imperial gard ...
government compound to request official recognition and an end to the escalating harassment against them.Gutmann, Ethan (13 July 2009)
"An Occurrence on Fuyou Street"
. ''National Review''. Retrieved November 24, 2012.
Security czar and politburo member
Luo Gan Luo Gan (; born July 18, 1935) is a retired Chinese politician. Between 2002 and 2007, Luo was one of China's top leaders, serving as a member of the nine-man Politburo Standing Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, and as the Secretary of ...
was the first to draw attention to the gathering crowd. Luo reportedly called Communist Party general secretary
Jiang Zemin Jiang Zemin (17 August 1926 – 30 November 2022) was a Chinese politician who served as General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party, general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from 1989 to 2002, as Chairman of the Central Mil ...
, and demanded a decisive solution to the Falun Gong problem. A group of five Falun Gong representatives presented their demands to then-Premier
Zhu Rongji Zhu Rongji ( zh, s=朱镕基; IPA: ; born 23 October 1928) is a retired Chinese politician who served as the 5th premier of China from 1998 to 2003. He also served as member of the Politburo Standing Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP ...
and, apparently satisfied with his response, the group dispersed peacefully. Jiang Zemin was reported to have been deeply angered by the event, however, and expressed concern over the fact that a number of high-ranking bureaucrats, Communist Party officials, and members of the military establishment had taken up Falun Gong. That evening, Jiang disseminated a letter through Party ranks ordering that Falun Gong must be crushed.


Establishment

On 7 June 1999, Jiang Zemin convened a meeting of the
Politburo A politburo () or political bureau is the highest organ of the central committee in communist parties. The term is also sometimes used to refer to similar organs in socialist and Islamist parties, such as the UK Labour Party's NEC or the Poli ...
to address the Falun Gong issue. In the meeting, Jiang described Falun Gong as a grave threat to Communist Party authority—"something unprecedented in the country since its founding 50 years ago"—and ordered the creation of a special leading group within the party's Central Committee to "get fully prepared for the work of disintegrating alun Gong" On 10 June, the 610 Office was formed to handle day-to-day coordination of the anti-Falun Gong campaign. Luo Gan was selected to helm of the office, whose mission at the time was described as studying, investigating, and developing a "unified approach...to resolve the Falun Gong problem."
Link at
Google Books Google Books (previously known as Google Book Search, Google Print, and by its code-name Project Ocean) is a service from Google that searches the full text of books and magazines that Google has scanned, converted to text using optical charac ...
The office was not created with any legislation, and there are no provisions describing its precise mandate. Nonetheless, it was authorized "to deal with central and local, party and state agencies, which were called upon to act in close coordination with that office," according to UCLA professor James Tong. On 17 June 1999, the 610 Office came under the newly created Central Leading Group for Dealing with Falun Gong, headed by Politburo Standing Committee member
Li Lanqing Li Lanqing (; born 22 May 1932) is a retired Chinese politician who served as first-ranked Vice Premier of China between 1998 and 2003. He was a member of the Politburo Standing Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) between 1997 and 2 ...
. Four other deputy directors of the Central Leading Group also held high-level positions in the Communist Party, including minister of the propaganda department,
Ding Guangen Ding Guangen (; September 1929 – July 22, 2012) was a Chinese politician who served in senior leadership roles in the Chinese Communist Party during the 1990s. He was a member of the Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party between 1992 and ...
. The leaders of the 610 Office and CLGDF were "able to call on top government and party officials to work on the case and draw on their institutional resources," and had personal access to the Communist Party general secretary and the Premier. Journalist Ian Johnson, whose coverage of the crackdown on Falun Gong earned him a Pulitzer Prize, wrote that the job of the 610 Office was "to mobilize the country's pliant social organizations. Under orders from the Public Security Bureau, churches, temples, mosques, newspapers, media, courts and police all quickly lined up behind the government's simple plan: to crush Falun Gong, no measures too excessive. Within days a wave of arrests swept China. By the end of 1999, Falun Gong adherents were dying in custody."


Structure

The 610 Office is managed by top echelon leaders of the CCP, and the CLGDF that oversees the 610 Office has, since its inception, been helmed by a senior member of the Politburo Standing Committee. The practice of appointing top-ranked Party authorities to run the CLGDF and 610 Office was intended to ensure that they outranked other departmental officials. According to James Tong, the 610 Office is situated "several administrative strata" above organizations such as the
State Administration of Radio, Film, and Television The National Radio and Television Administration (NRTA) is a ministry-level executive agency controlled by the Central Propaganda Department of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Its main task is the administration and supervision of state-own ...
,
Xinhua News Agency Xinhua News Agency (English pronunciation: ),J. C. Wells: Longman Pronunciation Dictionary, 3rd ed., for both British and American English or New China News Agency, is the official state news agency of the People's Republic of China. It is a ...
,
China Central Television China Central Television (CCTV) is the State media, national television broadcaster of China, established in 1958. CCTV is operated by the National Radio and Television Administration which reports directly to the Publicity Department of th ...
, and the News and Publications Bureau. The 610 Office plays the role of coordinating the anti-Falun Gong media coverage in the state-run press, as well influencing other party and state entities, including security agencies, in the anti-Falun Gong campaign. Cook and Lemish speculate that the 610 Office was created outside the traditional state-based security system for several reasons: first, a number of officials within the military and security agencies were practicing Falun Gong, leading Jiang and other CPC leaders to fear that these organizations had already been quietly compromised; second, there was a need for a nimble and powerful organization to coordinate the anti-Falun Gong campaign; third, the creation of a top-level party organization sent a message down the ranks that the anti-Falun Gong campaign was a priority; and finally, CPC leaders did not want the anti-Falun Gong campaign to be hindered by legal or bureaucratic restrictions, and thus established the 610 Office extrajudicially. Soon after the creation of the central 610 Office, parallel 610 Offices were established at each administrative level wherever populations of Falun Gong practitioners were present, including the provincial, district, municipal, and sometime neighborhood levels. In some instances, 610 Offices have been established within large corporations and universities. Each office takes orders from the 610 Office one administrative level above, or from the Communist Party authorities at the same organizational level. In turn, the local 610 Offices influence the officers of other state and party bodies, such as media organizations, local public security bureaus, and courts. The structure of the 610 Office overlaps with the CCP's
Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission The Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission (CPLC), commonly referred to as ''Zhongyang Zhengfawei'' (, literally "Central Poli-Legal Commission") in Chinese, is the organization under the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Part ...
. Both Luo Gan and Zhou Yongkang oversaw both the PLC and the 610 Office simultaneously. This overlap is also reflected at local levels, where the 610 Office is regularly aligned with the local PLAC, sometimes even sharing physical offices. The individual 610 Offices at local levels show minor variations in organizational structure. One example of how local offices are organized comes from Leiyang city in
Hunan Hunan is an inland Provinces of China, province in Central China. Located in the middle reaches of the Yangtze watershed, it borders the Administrative divisions of China, province-level divisions of Hubei to the north, Jiangxi to the east, Gu ...
province. There, the 610 Office consisted in 2008 of a "composite group" and an "education group." The education group was in charge of "propaganda work" and the "transformation through reeducation" of Falun Gong adherents. The composite group was in charge of administrative and logistics tasks, intelligence collection, and the protection of confidential information. James Tong wrote that the Party's decision to run the anti-Falun Gong campaign through the CLGDF and the 610 Office reflected "a pattern of regime institutional choice" to use "''ad hoc'' committees rather than permanent agencies, and invested power in the top party echelon rather than functional state bureaucracies."


Recruitment

Relatively little is known about recruiting processes for local 610 Offices. In rare instances where such information is available, 610 officers appeared to have been drawn from other party or state agencies (such as the Political and Legislative Committee staff or Public Security Bureaus).
Hao Fengjun Hao or HAO may refer to: People * Hao (surname) (Chinese: ) * Hao (given name) * Hao (video gamer), Chinese professional ''Dota 2'' player * Heather O'Reilly, Professional soccer player Places * Hao (city), or Haojing (), capital of the We ...
, a defector and former officer with the 610 Office in Tianjin City, was one such officer. Hao had previously worked for the Public Security Bureau in Tianjin, and was among the officers selected to be seconded to the newly created 610 Office. Some 610 Offices conduct their own recruiting efforts to bring in staff with university degrees.


Responsibility system

In order to ensure compliance with the Party's directives against Falun Gong, the 610 offices implemented a responsibility system that extended down to the grassroots levels of society. Under this system, the local officials were held accountable for all Falun Gong-related outcomes under their jurisdiction, and a system of punitive fines were imposed on regions and officials who failed to adequately persecute Falun Gong. "This showed that, instead of creating a modern system to rule China, the government still relied on an ad hoc patchwork of edicts, orders and personal connections," wrote Johnson. An example of this responsibility system was shown in the handling of protesters traveling to Beijing in the early years of the persecution. After the persecution of Falun Gong began in 1999, hundreds of Falun Gong practitioners traveled daily to
Tiananmen Square Tiananmen Square or Tian'anmen Square () is a city square in the city center of Beijing, China, named after the Tiananmen ("''Gate of Heavenly Peace''") located to its north, which separates it from the Forbidden City. The square contains th ...
or to petitioning offices in Beijing to appeal for their rights. In order to stem the flow of protesters in the capital, the central 610 Office held local authorities responsible for ensuring that no one from their region went to Beijing. "The provincial government fined mayors and heads of counties for each Falun Gong practitioner from their district who went to Beijing," wrote Johnson. The mayors and county leaders then fined the heads of their local 610 offices or PLAC branches, who in turn fined the village chiefs, who fined the police. The police administered punishment to the Falun Gong practitioners, and regularly demanded money from them to recoup the costs. Johnson wrote that "The fines were illegal; no law or regulation has ever been issued in writing that lists them." Government officials announced them only orally in meetings. "There was never to be anything in writing because they didn't want it made public," one official told Johnson.


Heads


Heads of the Central Leading Group

#
Li Lanqing Li Lanqing (; born 22 May 1932) is a retired Chinese politician who served as first-ranked Vice Premier of China between 1998 and 2003. He was a member of the Politburo Standing Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) between 1997 and 2 ...
(June 1999–2003),
Politburo Standing Committee The Politburo Standing Committee (PSC), officially the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, is a committee consisting of the top leadership of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) an ...
member and First Vice Premier of the State Council #
Luo Gan Luo Gan (; born July 18, 1935) is a retired Chinese politician. Between 2002 and 2007, Luo was one of China's top leaders, serving as a member of the nine-man Politburo Standing Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, and as the Secretary of ...
(2003–2007), Politburo Standing Committee member and secretary of the
Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission The Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission (CPLC), commonly referred to as ''Zhongyang Zhengfawei'' (, literally "Central Poli-Legal Commission") in Chinese, is the organization under the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Part ...
#
Zhou Yongkang Zhou Yongkang (; born December 3, 1942) is a former senior leader of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The 17th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (2007–2012) elected Zhou to be one of the nine members of the 17th Politburo ...
(2007–2012), Politburo Standing Committee member and secretary of the Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission #
Meng Jianzhu Meng Jianzhu (; born July 1947) is a retired Chinese politician best known for his term as the Secretary of the Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission of the Chinese Communist Party between 2012 and 2017. He also headed the Central Pu ...
(2012–2017),
Politburo A politburo () or political bureau is the highest organ of the central committee in communist parties. The term is also sometimes used to refer to similar organs in socialist and Islamist parties, such as the UK Labour Party's NEC or the Poli ...
member and secretary of the Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission


Directors of the 610 Office

#
Wang Maolin Wang Maolin (; born December 1934) is a Chinese politician. He was born in Qidong, Jiangsu. He joined the Chinese Communist Party in 1956. He was mayor (1982–1985) and Party Secretary (1985–1987) of Taiyuan. He was Party Secretary (1991–19 ...
(June 1999–September 2001), Deputy Head of the Central Leading Group for Propaganda and Ideology # Liu Jing (September 2001–October 2009), Vice Minister of Public Security # Li Dongsheng (October 2009–December 2013), Vice Minister of Public Security # Liu Jinguo (January 2014–January 2015), Vice Minister of Public Security # Fu Zhenghua (January 2015–April 2016), Vice Minister of Public Security # Huang Ming (April 2016–March 2018), Vice Minister of Public Security


Functions


Surveillance and intelligence

Surveillance of Falun Gong practitioners and intelligence collection is among the chief functions of 610 Offices. At the local levels, this involves monitoring workplaces and residences to identify Falun Gong practitioners, making daily visits to the homes of known (or "registered") Falun Gong practitioners, or coordinating and overseeing 24-hour monitoring of practitioners.'Annual Report 2008'
. ''Congressional-Executive Commission on China''. 31 October 2008. Retrieved 24 December 2013.
The 610 Office does not necessarily conduct the surveillance directly; instead, it orders local authorities to do so, and has them report at regular intervals to the 610 Office. Basic-level 610 Offices relay the intelligence they have collected up the operational chain to the 610 Office above them. In many instances, the surveillance is targeted towards Falun Gong practitioners who had previously recanted the practice while in prison or labor camps, and is intended to prevent "recidivism." The 610 Office's intelligence collection efforts are bolstered through he cultivation of paid civilian informants. 610 Offices at local levels have been found to offer substantial monetary rewards for information leading to the capture of Falun Gong practitioners, and 24-hour hotlines have been created for civilians to report on Falun Gong-related activity. In some locales, 'responsibility measures' are enacted whereby workplaces, schools, neighborhood committees and families are held accountable for monitoring and reporting on Falun Gong practitioners within their ranks. In addition to domestic surveillance, the 610 Office is allegedly involved in foreign intelligence. Hao Fengjun, the former 610 officer-turned defector from Tianjin, testified that his job at the 610 Office involved collating and analyzing intelligence reports on overseas Falun Gong populations, including in the United States, Canada and Australia. In 2005, a Chinese agent working with the Chinese embassy in
Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...
recruited a German Falun Gong practitioner Dr. Dan Sun to act as an informant.Röbel, Sven; Stark, Holger (30 June 2010
"A Chapter from the Cold War Reopens: Espionage Probe Casts Shadow on Ties with China"
, ''Spiegel International''. Retrieved 24 November 2012.
The agent reportedly arranged a meeting for Sun with two men who purported to be scholars of Chinese medicine interested in researching Falun Gong, and Sun agreed to pass information to them, ostensibly hoping to further their understanding of the practice. The men were in fact high-ranking agents of the 610 Office in
Shanghai Shanghai, Shanghainese: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: is a direct-administered municipality and the most populous urban area in China. The city is located on the Chinese shoreline on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the ...
. According to Der Spiegel, the case demonstrated "how important fighting alun Gongis to the hinesegovernment," and "points to the extremely offensive approach that is sometimes being taken by the Chinese intelligence agencies."


Propaganda

Propaganda is among the core functions of the 610 Office, both at the central and local levels. The CLGDF includes high-ranking members of the Communist Party's propaganda department, including the minister of propaganda and deputy head of the Central Leading Group on Propaganda and Ideological Work. This, coupled with the 610 Office's organizational position above the main news and propaganda organs, gives it sufficient influence to direct the anti-Falun Gong propaganda efforts at the central level. Tong notes that the first "propaganda assaults" on the Falun Gong were launched in the leading state-run newspapers in late June 1999—shortly after the establishment of the 610 office, but before the campaign against Falun Gong had been officially announced. The effort was overseen by Ding Guangen in his capacity as the deputy leader of the Central Leading Group for Dealing with Falun Gong and the country's propaganda chief. The initial media attacks contained only veiled, indirect references to Falun Gong, and their content aimed to deride "superstition" and extol the virtues of atheism. In the weeks leading up to the official launch of the campaign, the CLGDF and the 610 Office set to work preparing a large number of books, editorials, and television programs denouncing the group, which were made public after 20 July 1999 when the campaign against Falun Gong officially began. In the months following July 1999, David Ownby writes that the country's media apparatus "was churning out hundreds of articles, books, and television reports against Falun Gong. The Chinese public had not witnessed such overkill since the heyday of the Cultural Revolution." State propaganda initially used the appeal of scientific rationalism to argue that Falun Gong's worldview was in "complete opposition to science" and communism;Lu, Xing ''Rhetoric of the Chinese Cultural Revolution: the impact on Chinese thought, culture, and communication,'' University of South Carolina Press (2004). the ''People's Daily'' asserted on 27 July 1999, that it "was a struggle between theism and atheism, superstition and science, idealism and materialism." Other rhetoric appearing in the state-run press centered on charges that Falun Gong had misled followers and was dangerous to health. To make the propaganda more accessible to the masses, the government published comic books, some of which compared Falun Gong's founder to
Lin Biao Lin Biao ( zh, 林彪; 5 December 1907 – 13 September 1971) was a Chinese politician and Marshal of the People's Republic of China who was pivotal in the Chinese Communist Party, Communist Chinese Communist Revolution, victory during the Chines ...
and
Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...
. The Central 610 Office also directs local 610 Offices to carry out propaganda work against Falun Gong. This includes working with local media, as well as conducting grassroots campaigns to "educate" target audiences in schools and universities, state-run enterprises, and social and commercial enterprises. In 2008, for instance, the central 610 Office issued a directive to engage in propaganda work intended to prevent Falun Gong from "interfering with" the Beijing Olympics. The campaign was referenced on government web sites in every Chinese province.


Reeducation and detention

610 Offices work with local security agencies to monitor and capture Falun Gong adherents, many of whom are then sentenced administratively to reeducation-through-labor camps (RTL), or, if they continue to practice and advocate for Falun Gong, sentenced to prison. The number of Falun Gong adherents detained in China is estimated to be in the hundreds of thousands; in some facilities, Falun Gong practitioners are in the majority. 610 Offices throughout China maintain an informal network of "transformation-through-reeducation" facilities. These facilities are used specifically for ideological reprogramming of Falun Gong practitioners, whereby they are subjected to physical and mental coercion in an effort to have them renounce Falun Gong. In 2001, the central 610 Office began ordering "all neighborhood committees, state institutions and companies" to begin using the transformation facilities. No Falun Gong practitioners were to be spared, including students and the elderly. The same year, the 610 Office reportedly relayed orders that those who actively practice Falun Gong must be sent to prisons or labor camps, and those who did not renounce their belief in Falun Gong were to be socially isolated and monitored by families and employers. In 2010, the central 610 Office initiated a three-year campaign to intensify the "transformation" of known Falun Gong practitioners. Documents from local 610 Offices across the country revealed the details of the campaign, which involved setting transformation quotas, and required local authorities to forcefully take Falun Gong practitioners into transformation-through-reeducation sessions. If they failed to recant their practice, the practitioners would be sent to labor camps.'Communist Party Calls for Increased Efforts To "Transform" Falun Gong Practitioners as Part of Three-Year Campaign'
. ''Congressional Executive Commission on China''. 22 March 2011. Retrieved 24 November 2012.
In addition to prisons, labor camps and transformation facilities, the 610 Office can arbitrarily compel mentally healthy Falun Gong practitioners into psychiatric facilities. In 2002, it was estimated that approximately 1,000 Falun Gong adherents were being held against their will in mental hospitals, where reports of abuse were common.


Interference in legal system

The majority of detained Falun Gong practitioners are sentenced administratively to reeducation-through-labor camps, though several thousand have been condemned to longer sentences in prisons. Chinese
human rights lawyers Humans (''Homo sapiens'') or modern humans are the most common and widespread species of primate, and the last surviving species of the genus ''Homo''. They are great apes characterized by their hairlessness, bipedalism, and high intelligenc ...
have charged that the 610 Office regularly interferes with legal cases involving Falun Gong practitioners, subverting the ability of judges to adjudicate independently. Attorney Jiang Tianyong has noted that cases where the defendants are Falun Gong practitioners are decided by the local 610 Offices, rather than through recourse to legal standards. In November 2008, two lawyers seeking to represent Falun Gong practitioners in
Heilongjiang Heilongjiang is a province in northeast China. It is the northernmost and easternmost province of the country and contains China's northernmost point (in Mohe City along the Amur) and easternmost point (at the confluence of the Amur and Us ...
noted that the presiding judge in the case was seen meeting with 610 Office agents. Other lawyers, including
Gao Zhisheng Gao Zhisheng (born 20 April 1964) is a Chinese Human rights law, human rights attorney and dissident known for defending activists and religious minorities and documenting Human rights in the People's Republic of China, human rights abuses in ...
,
Guo Guoting Guo Guoting (), is a former Chinese lawyer, and chief partner of the Shanghai Tian Yi Law Firm. He was one of few lawyers who would defend dissidents and Falun Gong practitioners. He represented the imprisoned lawyer Zheng Enchong and journalist ...
and Wang Yajun have alleged that the 610 Office interfered with their ability to meet with Falun Gong clients or defend them in court. Official documents support the allegation of interference by the 610 Office. In 2009, two separate documents from
Jilin ) , image_skyline = Changbaishan Tianchi from western rim.jpg , image_alt = , image_caption = View of Heaven Lake , image_map = Jilin in China (+all claims hatched).svg , mapsize = 275px , map_al ...
province and
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Province described how legal cases against Falun Gong practitioners must be approved and/or audited by the 610 Office. The 610 Office's organizational proximity to the CPC's Political and Judicial Committee better enables it to exercise influence with the
Supreme People's Court The Supreme People's Court of the People's Republic of China (SPC) is the highest court of the People's Republic of China. It hears appeals of cases from the high people's courts and is the trial court for cases about matters of national ...
and
Ministry of Justice A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice, is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a ...
, both at the central level and with their counterparts at local levels.


Allegations of torture and killing

Several sources have reported 610 officers as being involved in or ordering the torture of Falun Gong adherents in custody. In a letter to Chinese leaders in 2005, prominent human rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng relayed accounts of 610 officers beating and sexually assaulting Falun Gong practitioners: "of all the true accounts of incredible violence that I have heard, of all the records of the government's inhuman torture of its own people, what has shaken me most is the routine practice on the part of the 6–10 Office and the police of assaulting women's genitals," wrote Gao. Defector Hao Fengjun described witnessing one of his 610 Office colleagues beating an elderly female Falun Gong practitioner with an iron bar. The event helped catalyze Hao's decision to defect to Australia. The 2009 report of the UN Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial Killings relayed allegations that the 610 Office was involved in the torture deaths of Falun Gong practitioners ahead of the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Ian Johnson of the Wall Street Journal reported in 2000 that Falun Gong practitioners were tortured to death in "transformation-through-reeducation" facilities that are run by the 610 Office. The central 610 Office had informed local authorities that they could use any means necessary to prevent Falun Gong practitioners from traveling to Beijing to protest the ban—an order that reportedly resulted in widespread abuse in custody.


Expanded functions

In 2003, the name of the Central Leading Group for Dealing with Falun Gong was changed to the "Central Leading Group on Dealing with Heretical Religions." The same year, its mandate was expanded to include disposing of 28 other "heretical religions" and "harmful qigong practices". Although Falun Gong continues to be the 610 Office's primary concern, there is evidence of local offices targeting members of other groups, some of which identify as Buddhist or Protestant denominations. This include carrying out surveillance against members, engaging in propaganda efforts, and detaining and imprisoning members. The ''Economist'' reported that 610 officers were involved in enforcing the house arrest of
Chen Guangcheng Chen Guangcheng (born November 12, 1971) is a Chinese civil rights activist who has worked on human rights issues in rural areas of the People's Republic of China. Blind from an early age and self-taught in the law, Chen is frequently describ ...
, a blind human rights activist, that generated controversy as the police chief faced repercussions. In 2008, a new set of "leading groups" appeared with the mandate of "maintaining stability." Corresponding local offices were established in every district in major coastal cities, being tasked with "ferreting out" anti-Communist Party elements. The branch offices for Maintaining Stability overlap significantly with local 610 Offices, sometimes sharing offices, staff, and leadership. Cook and Lemish write that the increased reliance on ad hoc committees such as the 610 Office and stability maintenance offices may indicate a sense among Communist Party leaders that the existing state security services are ineffective in meeting its needs. "That these officials are increasingly relying on more arbitrary, extra-legal, and personalized security forces to protect their hold on power does not only bode badly for China's human rights record. It also threatens the stability of internal CCP politics should 610 Office work become politicized," they write.


Abolition

On 21 March 2018, the Central Committee of the CCP announced that the Central Leading Group on Dealing with Heretical Religions and the 610 Office would be abolished, with their functions to the Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission and the Ministry of Public Security as part of the
deepening the reform of the Party and state institutions The deepening the reform of the Party and state institutions ( zh, , p=Shēnhuà dǎng hé guójiā jīgòu gǎigé, s=深化党和国家机构改革) was a large-scale reform of the institutions of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the Peopl ...
.


References

{{China national security Human rights in China Falun Gong Government agencies established in 1999 1999 establishments in China Organizations based in Beijing Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission Communist repression Political repression in China Leading groups of the Chinese Communist Party Chinese intelligence agencies