Crimes of Chen Siyuan, Deputy Minister of Public Security and Director of First Bureau, in Persecuting Falun Gong

(Minghui.org) Falun Gong practitioners in 36 countries recently presented their respective governments with a new list of perpetrators involved in the persecution of practitioners in China. The lists were submitted on and around December 10, 2021, International Human Rights Day. Practitioners requested that their governments bar the perpetrators and their family members from entering those countries and freeze their assets.

The 36 countries include the Five Eyes Alliance (the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand), 23 countries in the European Union (France, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, Poland, Belgium, Sweden, Austria, Ireland, Denmark, Finland, Czechia, Romania, Portugal, Greece, Hungary, Slovakia, Luxembourg, Bulgaria, Croatia, Slovenia, Estonia, and Malta), and 8 additional countries (Japan, South Korea, Indonesia, Switzerland, Norway, Liechtenstein, Israel, and Mexico).

Falun Gong, also called Falun Dafa, has been persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) since July 1999 (this includes torturing practitioners resulting in death and harvesting their organs). Practitioners have recently submitted numerous lists of perpetrators to various countries requesting that sanctions be imposed against these human rights violators. This latest submission of a perpetrator list marks the first time that Estonia has participated in this effort.

Chen Siyuan, deputy minister of the Ministry of Public Security and director of the First Bureau, is in this list.

 

Perpetrator Information

 

Full Name of Perpetrator: Chen (last name) Siyuan (first name) (陈思源)
Gender: Male
Country: China
Date/year of Birth: November 1961
Place of Birth: Hanshan City, Anhui Province

 

Title or Position:

Before 2015:
Political commissar of the Chaoyang Branch of the Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau
Director of the Nanmofang Police Station
Director of the Datun Police Station
Deputy director of the Chaoyang Branch
Party secretary and deputy director of the Xuanwu Branch
Member of the Standing Committee of the Xuanwu District Party Committee
Secretary and director of the Xuanwu Branch
Secretary of the Party Committee and Director of the Xicheng Branch of the Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau

December 2015 – August 2017:
Member of the Party Committee and deputy director of the Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau

August 2017 – February 2019:
Deputy secretary of the Political and Legal Committee of the Beijing Municipal Party Committee
Executive deputy director of the Municipal State Security Office
Director of the Municipal Stability Maintenance Office (Until Jan 2019)

February 2019 – August 2019:
Director of the Public Security Bureau of the Ministry of Public Security
Director of the Anti-cult Bureau (Bureau 26, the 610 Office of the Ministry of Public Security)

August 2019 – June 2021:
Member of the Party Committee of the Ministry of Public Security
Assistant minister, and Director of the Public Security Bureau

June 2021 – Present:
Member of the Party Committee of the Ministry of Public Security
Deputy minister, secretary of the Party Committee
Director of the First Bureau, and the rank of deputy chief inspector

 

Major Crimes

The First Bureau of the Ministry of Public Security and its predecessor, the Political Security Bureau, have played a major in role in the CCP’s persecution of Falun Gong since July 1999. Its officials and the subordinate police officers participated or orchestrated the arrests, home ransacking, and wrongful prosecution of Falun Gong practitioners.

Chen Siyuan was appointed director of the First Bureau of the Ministry of Public Security in February 2019. He was instrumental in planning and directing the persecution of Falun Gong with the national public security system.

In 2020, the Central Political and Legal Affairs Committee (PLAC), the 610 Office, and the Ministry of Public Security issued the “Zero-out” directive to force every Falun Gong practitioner on the government’s blacklist to give up their belief.

In order to implement the directive, the PLAC, 610 Office, community workers, and police in various regions visited the practitioners on the list and ordered them to write the three statements (a repentance statement, a guarantee statement, and a dissociation statement) as proof that they had given up their belief.

If a practitioner refused, the officials threatened them, saying, “If you don’t sign, you will disappear.” They also threatened the practitioners with arrests, detention, prison, suspending their pension, and impacts to their children’s and grandchildren’s livelihoods.

Some practitioners’ family members were held hostage as the authorities tried to force the practitioners to sign the statements. Some practitioners’ children were forced to sign the statements on their behalf.

Many provinces and cities in China have initiated special incentives to entice the public to report on practitioners who are raising awareness about the persecution. In Guangdong and Hainan Provinces, the authorities offered bonuses of up to 100,000 yuan to those who reported on Falun Gong practitioner neighbors. During the “Zero-out” operation in 2020, at least 88 practitioners were tortured to death, 615 were sentenced, and 15,235 were arrested or harassed.

As the person in charge of the National Security Bureau of the Ministry of Public Security, Chen Siyuan bears responsibility for enforcing the crimes of persecution that occurred throughout the country during his term in office.

 

Crimes of Persecution During Chen’s Tenure in the Central Government

 

Persecution Crimes in 2019

Prior to the CCP’s “70th Anniversary Celebration,” marking 70 years in power, in October 2019, the authorities carried out mass arrests across the country. Large numbers of practitioners in the autonomous cities of Beijing, Shanghai, and Tianjin, and the provinces of Hebei, Shandong, Sichuan, Jilin, Liaoning, Heilongjiang, Henan, Hubei, Guangdong, Jiangsu, Anhui, Hunan, and Jiangxi were targeted.

In Siping City, Jilin Province, the Public Security Bureau treated the directive as a “political task” and set up a merit system for officers who participated. Those who arrested practitioners were awarded ten points, while arresting actual criminals only earned one point.

According to statistics from Minghui.org, 6,109 practitioners were arrested, 3,582 were harassed, 383 were taken to brainwashing centres, and 3,124 had their homes ransacked in 2019. At least 789 were sentenced. This took place in 291 cities and 29 provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities in China.

Hundreds of police officers were dispatched in Bozhou City, Anhui Province on April 17, 2019. Ten practitioners in the Wang family were arrested, including Wang Yulan, her five daughters, three sons-in-law, and her 12-year-old grandson. Four of the daughters were tried on December 5 and sentenced to 7.5 years in prison with a 50,000-yuan fine each.

Over 100 practitioners were arrested in Nanyang City, Henan Province on August 30, 2019, and most of them also had their homes ransacked. Sixty practitioners were taken to brainwashing centres that night.

The targeted practitioners in 2019 included 707 who were 65 years of age or older. Of those, 205 were in their 80s and 90s. Wang Shaoqing, 74, from Hubei Province was arrested for talking to people about Falun Gong in a park. Twelve other practitioners were also arrested, including 79-year-old Zhou Xiuwu.

In 2019, 96 practitioners passed away after enduring arrests, detention, torture, or drug administration. Nineteen of them died during their imprisonment. The deceased practitioners included civil servants, experts in various fields, scientific and technical personnel, school principals, outstanding teachers, police officers, former military cadres, doctors, hospital directors, and factory directors.

Mr. Yang Shengjun from Jiamusi City, Heilongjiang Province, was arrested on August 2, 2019. He died a little over a week later on August 11. The detention centre told his family that he’d vomited blood in the detention centre that morning and was taken to Jiamusi Central Hospital for emergency medical care. His family had to pay the 30,000-yuan medical bill.

Mr. He Lifang of Qingdao, Shandong Province, 45, was arrested in May and died in custody on July 2. His family saw suture marks on his chest and an incision on his back. The police said it was due to the autopsy, but his family suspect that he might have been killed for his organs.

Ms. Bai Chunhua, 63, of Henan Province was arrested and had her home ransacked on December 8, 2019. The police informed her family the next afternoon that she was in the emergency room. By the time her family arrived, Ms. Bai was unconscious. A hospital examination revealed that she had five fractured ribs. The family could also see wounds around her mouth and bruises on her waist. Ms. Bai passed away on the morning of December 14, 2019.

 

Persecution Crimes in 2020

The persecution of Falun Gong continued unabated despite the coronavirus pandemic. Arrests, harassment, torture, illegal blood draws, and sentencing continued all over the country. According to statistics from Minghui.org in 2020, 84 practitioners died due to the persecution, at least 615 were sentenced, 6,659 were arrested, 8,576 were harassed, 537 were forced to attend brainwashing sessions, and 3,588 had their homes ransacked. The persecution spanned 304 cities and 29 provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities. A total of 1,188 targeted practitioners were 65 or older, with 17 over 90 and the oldest being 94 years old.

The Dalian Public Security Bureau of Liaoning Province dispatched scores of police officers to arrest practitioners all over Dalian on July 10 and 11, 2020. At least 30 practitioners and their family members were arrested and their homes ransacked. Some of the practitioners were in their 90s. More than 3 million yuan in cash was confiscated. In December 2020, 7 practitioners were sentenced to prison: Du Yongfeng to 9 years, Zhang Chunfeng to 7 years, Fan Yongmei to 4 years, Zhang Liping to 3 years, He Yongqin to 3 years, and Wei Duo and her husband Chu Zhengjie to 1 year each.

Among the 84 Falun Gong practitioners who passed away due to persecution in 2020, 21 were tortured to death in prisons, detention centres, police stations, and offices of village committees.

Officers from the Public Security Bureau of Yuzhou City, Henan Province, arrested Ms. Zhang Zhiwen on May 13, 2020 for distributing Falun Gong materials. Zhang’s husband tried to bring her clothing and insulin for her diabetes, but detention centre officials turned him away. On the morning of May 17 when the family called the police to ask about her, they were told that she had died. Without notifying her husband, the authorities had her body taken to the funeral home to be cremated.

Ms. Li Ling of Dazhangjia Village, Shandong Province, was arrested at home on June 28. She was beaten to death on July 13. Village officials forced her family to have her body cremated that same day. According to her family, her face was a wreck and bruises covered her body.

Ms. Wang Shukun, a 66-year-old physician in Heilongjiang Province, was deceived into coming in to work in late June 2020, where police officers ordered her to write the three statements. They also tried to force her to falsely declare that her husband, Yu Xiaopeng, also practiced Falun Gong, which he didn’t. When Ms.Wang refused to comply, they beat her in the hospital, bruising her and fracturing her kneecaps. She struggled home a few hours later. She developed symptoms of a cerebral hemorrhage, dizziness, and nausea on the evening of July 1 and passed away the next day.

 

Persecution Crimes in 2021

According to statistics from Minghui.org, in January 2021, 1,216 practitioners were arrested and harassed, 36 were sent to brainwashing centres, 7 were tortured to death, and 169 had their homes raided. From March to April 2021, at least 2,857 practitioners were arrested and harassed. Specifically 1,090 were arrested, 1,767 were harassed, and 501 had their homes raided.

At least 39 practitioners died due to persecution between January and April 2021. Ms. Mao Kun from Chengdu City, Sichuan Province, was arrested in July 2019 and sentenced to 11.5 years in December 2020. She was tortured to death in a detention centre on April 11, 2021.

Ms. Li Cai’e from Shaanxi Province, her sons Yuan Guangwu and Yuan Huiwu, her daughter-in-law, and her grandchildren all practiced Falun Gong. On November 29, 2020, 75-year-old Ms. Li passed away due to constant harassment and threats by the police. On December 18, her son Yuan Huiwu was sentenced to three years in prison. On February 3, 2021, her eldest daughter-in-law Zhang Cuicui died while living away from home to avoid being persecuted.

 

Crimes of Persecution During Chen’s Tenure in Beijing

Chen Siyuan has worked in the Beijing public security system for over a decade. In December 2015, he served as the deputy director of the Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau.

In August 2017, he served as the deputy secretary of the Beijing Municipal Committee of Political and Legal Affairs and the Municipal State Security Office, and the executive deputy director and director of the Municipal Stability Maintenance Office.

In all of these positions, Chen actively participated in the persecution. During this period, many practitioners were persecuted to death in Beijing, including Xu Xiuhong, Wen Mulan, Jia Yuping, Liu Yanmei, Du Wenge, Li Xiuhong, Hou Junwen, Ao Ruiying, and Li Gang. Many others were arrested, detained, harassed, and sentenced.

In 2016, 353 practitioners in Beijing were persecuted to varying degrees. Among them, 53 were sentenced, 245 were arrested and detained in detention centres or brainwashing centres, and 58 were harassed, intimidated, and had their homes ransacked.

In 2017, at least 68 practitioners were sentenced or tried, 254 were arrested, and 269 were harassed.

In 2018, 38 practitioners were sentenced, 131 were arrested, 6 were taken to brainwashing centres, 128 were harassed, and 36 were put under residential surveillance.

 

The following are selected cases of death during Chen’s tenure in Beijing:

1. Ms. Xu Xiuhong

Ms. Xu Xiuhong was arrested in the Tongzhou District of Beijing on January 21, 2016, and detained for three months. After she returned home, she exhibited symptoms of being poisoned and frequent panic attacks. Her health quickly deteriorated. She died on April 2, 2017. She was 40 years old.

 

2. Ms. Lei Huiqin

Ms. Lei Huiqin was arrested on April 20, 2016, and her house was ransacked by public security officials. They confiscated her personal belongings, including printers and computers. Ms. Lei was held at the Huairou Detention Centre for one month. The persecution caused great harm to her body, causing her to fall ill. In May 2017, police officer Wan Zihai called and harassed Ms. Lei again as part of the “knocking on doors” campaign. She passed away in late August 2017. She was 60 years old.

 

3. Ms. Wen Mulan

Ms. Wen Mulan, 75, was arrested on October 14, 2017, for talking to people about the persecution of Falun Gong. She was held in the Miyun District Detention Centre. She went on a hunger strike to protest.

After about two months on her hunger strike, Ms. Wen was suffering from generalised edema and was in critical condition. When her husband refused to pick her up, the detention centre found a local Falun Gong practitioner to take her in. The practitioner noted that Ms. Wen exhibited symptoms of having been drugged.

Because of the CCP’s threats and harassment, her husband refused to allow Ms. Wen to come home. Ms. Wen stayed with a friend and passed away on the morning of February 27, 2018.

 

4. Ms. Liu Yanmei

Ms. Liu Yanmei of the Shunyi District was arrested in November 2016 for inviting people to attend a Falun Gong practitioners’ hearing. She was handcuffed and shackled in the Tongzhou Detention Centre. The torture also left her bruised all over. They pulled out her hair, and her scalp became infected. She was sentenced to four years in prison in July 2017 and was tortured to death on November 12, 2018. She was 52 years old.