In order to punish organizing and using cultist organizations for criminal activities, the Supreme People's Court and the Supreme People's Procuratorate (hereinafter referred to as the "Two Supremes") have recently jointly released the "Explanations on Some Questions on Specific Applications of the Laws in Handling the Cases of Organizing and Using Cults for Criminal Activities" (hereinafter referred to as the "Explanations"). This reporter specially interviewed the responsible persons of the "Two Supremes" for further understanding of the concrete conditions concerning the "Explanations".
In talking about the background of the drafting of the Explanations, they pointed out that cults have spread up in some areas of our country in recent years, and have caused serious consequences. These illegal groups, using religion, Qigong breathing exercises or other normally legal activities as camouflage, deify their leaders, recruit and control their members, deceive people by forging and spreading superstitious ideas, and conduct illegal and even criminal activities. They whip up subversive opinions and attack the Party and government, endangering national security and unification. They frequently gather unruly mobs to make trouble and besiege and attack state organs, enterprises and institutions, disturb the normal order of work, production, business operation, teaching and scientific research. They hold illegal meetings and demonstrations, and forcibly occupy public places, such as parks and sports grounds, sabotaging public order. They gather people to attack or forcibly occupy sites of religious activities, or use other ways to disturb normal religious activities. They incite, deceive and organize their members or other people to hamper the implementation of state laws and administrative regulations. They illegally publish and distribute publications, spreading fallacious ideas and printing superstitious symbols to poison the people's minds. They instigate and deceive their members or others to "seek God", "ascend to Heaven,'' commit suicide or mutilate themselves, resulting in heavy injuries or even deaths. They sexually exploit women and defraud people of money or property by making use of superstitious fallacies coercion or inveiglement. ``Falun Gong'' is typical of such cults. It is the most sinister cult since the founding of the People's Republic of China in terms of its wide range of organization and threat to society in general. It has gravely endangered the physical and mental health of its practitioners, social stability and the smooth progress of the reform opening policies and the socialist modernization drive.
The governments of countries worldwide have all kept high vigilance and taken strict precautions against such cults. They have cracked down on organizing and using cults for criminal activities. The Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China (hereinafter referred to as the Criminal Law), revised at the Fifth Session of the Eighth National People's Congress on March 14, 1997, specially and clearly defines the punishment for such criminal activities. Article 300 of the Criminal Law stipulates that "Whoever organizes or uses secret societies, cults or superstition to sabotage the implementation of state laws or administrative regulations shall be sentenced to three to seven years imprisonment; if the case is serious enough he or she shall be sentenced to more than seven years imprisonment. Whoever organizes or uses secret societies, cults or superstition to deceive people and cause death shall be punished according to the stipulation of the above-mentioned Article. Whoever organizes or uses secret societies, cults or superstition to sexually exploit women or defraud people of money or property shall be punished according to the stipulations of Articles 236 and 266 of this Law." These stipulations clearly define the punishments for organizing and using cults for sabotaging the implementation of State laws and administrative regulations and other criminal activities and provide strong legal weapons for cracking down on such criminal activities according to law.
With the continuous deepening of the fight against cults, especially in the judicial practice of investigating and dealing with the cases of organizing and using the "Falun Gong" cult for criminal activities, some places have raised the problem of how to specifically apply the relevant regulations of the Criminal Law to deal with such cases. To guarantee the unified enforcement of law and crack down on "Falun Gong" and other cults, the "two Supremes" have jointly formulated these judicial "Explanations". The "Explanations" gives explicit stipulations on such questions as the definition of "cult," the legal application on such activities, and related law and policy distinctions. The promulgation and enforcement of the "Explanations" play an important role in accurately and effectively applying laws to further contain the spread of "Falun Gong" and other cults, safeguard social stability, and protect the lives and property of the people.
Talking about how to determine the nature of and deal with such acts as "gathering unruly mobs to make trouble and besiege and attack state organs, enterprises and institutions," and "holding illegal meetings or demonstrations" by "Falun Gong" and other cults, the responsible persons of the "Two Supremes" took the organization of "Falun Gong" as an example. Since Li Hongzhi directed the organization of "Falun Gong" to besiege the Guangming Daily office in August 1996, there have been 78 illegal demonstrations by over 300 "Falun Gong" practitioners, which have brought about seriously harmful consequences. According to the provisions in the "Explanations", anyone of the following acts shall be deemed to commit the crime of organizing and using cults to disrupt the implementation of state laws and administrative regulations, and be given punishment according to Section 1 of Article 300 of the Criminal Law: such as organizing and using cults to gather unruly mobs to make trouble and besiege and attack state organs, enterprises and institutions, and disrupt the order of their work, production, business operation, teaching or scientific research, or hold illegal meetings and demonstrations, incite, deceive or organize their members or others to besiege, attack, or forcibly occupy public places or places for religious activities, disrupt social order or resist relevant departments banning their organizations, restore the banned organizations, or establish other cults to continue their cultist activities.
In addition, such activities as publishing, printing, duplicating or distributing publications spreading fallacies, and printing cultist symbols committed by "Falun Gong" and other cults to spread fallacies or swindle people of their money and other property shall also be deemed to be crimes of organizing and using cults to disrupt the implementation of state laws and administrative regulations, and given punishment according to Section 1 of Article 300 of the Criminal Law.
Talking about how to correctly determine the crime of organizing and using cults resulting in deaths, as stipulated in Section 2 of Article 300 of the Criminal Law, the responsible persons of the "Two Supremes" said that although there are cults of every description worldwide, they all kick up a rumpus over health and disease treatment, to which ordinary people pay the closest attention in their daily lives. Li Hongzhi invented a set of fallacies, according to which no medical treatment would be needed if his followers practised "Falun Gong" and obtained "Falun Dafa." As a result, some practitioners died because they refused or delayed medical treatment. According to incomplete statistics, more than 1,400 people died after practising "Falun Gong," and seven medical institutions in Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei Province, and Shandong Province treated over 100 people who suffered from dysphrenia as a result of practicing "Falun Gong." Hence, according to Section 3 of the "Explanations", "Organizing and using cults to deceive people resulting in their deaths," as stipulated in Section 2 of Article 300 of the Criminal Law refers to cases of organizing and using cults to devise and spread superstition or fallacies, deceiving their members or others to practice fasting, inflict injuries upon themselves or otherwise maltreat themselves, or preventing patients from receiving normal medical treatment, resulting in their deaths. The "Explanations" simultaneously stipulates that committing any of such activities as causing three deaths or more, causing fewer than three deaths but seriously injuring many people, continuing to organize or use cults to deceive people, resulting in deaths after having received criminal or administrative penalties for engaging in cultist activities, or causing other specially serious consequences," shall be considered as organizing and using cults, resulting in deaths "with particularly serious circumstances," and shall be seriously punished according to law.
The responsible persons of the "Two Supremes" also mentioned that cults that swindle people of their money by various deceitful means should be punished as Swindling offences according to Section 3 of Article 300 of the Criminal Law. Nowadays, almost all founders of modern cults are upstarts, illegally collecting money. Li Hongzhi and other core elements of "Falun Gong" have collected large amounts of money by exploiting the practitioners and lived in the lap of luxury. From May 1992 to the end of 1994, Li Hongzhi, in league with others, ran 56 "Falun Gong" study sessions, charging more than 3 million RMB yuan in total, which merits punishment according to law. In addition, the "Explanations" clearly stipulates that all the money and property collected by various illegal means by cults or criminal offenders who organize and use cults to sabotage law enforcement as well as the tools and publicity materials used for criminal activities, should be confiscated according to law.
The responsible persons of the "Two Supremes" also pointed out that the Party and government have clearly set the policy demarcation line for handling and solving the "Falun Gong" problem, that is, distinguish different conditions and contradictions of different natures. It is necessary to distinguish between normal keep-fit exercises and using exercises as a camouflage for spreading superstitious ideas and pseudo-science, between ordinary "Falun Gong" practitioners and a handful of plotters and organizers of illegal activities, between normal religious belief and legal religious activities, and the activities organized by "Falun Gong", and between those who have repented and corrected their mistakes and those who refuse to repent and mend their ways, as well as between those who made the mistakes before or after the publication of the decisions of the Party Central Committee, prohibiting Party members from practising "Falun Gong", the decisions of the Ministry of Civil Affairs on abolishing the "Falun Dafa Resesearch Society" and the "Falun Gong" organization manipulated by it, the Notice of the Ministry of Public Security, and the Notice of the Ministry of the Personnel on prohibiting public servants from practising "Falun Dafa.". In this way, the objective can be attained of uniting, educating and freeing the majority, and striking at the minority. During the process of handling cases of organizing and using cults for criminal activities, it is also necessary to grasp the policy demarcation line, to implement the principle of dealing with each case on its merits, and to should focus on and striking at organizers, plotters and leaders who organize, and use cults for criminal activities as well as active participants and who refuse to mend their ways despite repeated education. Those who have surrendered themselves to law enforcement departments or who have performed meritorious services shall be given lenient treatment or may be exempted from penalty according to law. Those who were deceived or coerced into joining cults and have disassociated themselves from them shall not be considered as offenders.
(Compiled by New Star Publishers, Dec., 1999)
