Innocent or Guilty?

(Minghui.org) Adolf Eichmann, a member of the Nazi Party and its Security Service (SD), was one of the major organizers of the Holocaust. As a head of the department responsible for Jewish affairs, he was in charge of Jewish deportation to gas chambers at the extermination camps including Auschwitz. Between March and July 1944 alone, 437,000 of Hungarian Jews were killed this way.

Israeli intelligence agency captured Eichmann in May 1960. He insisted that he had no power in the Nazi hierarchy and was merely following orders. There was a difference between the leaders responsible for issuing orders, and their subordinates forced to serve as mere instruments in the hands of the leaders, he wrote. Since he was not a responsible leader or killed anyone personally, he denied being guilty of anything.

Nonetheless, the death toll was a solid fact and Eichmann was convicted on 15 counts of crimes, including crimes against humanity, war crimes, crimes against the Jewish people, and membership in a criminal organization. As a key perpetrator of the genocide, he was sentenced to death by hanging in December 1961.

Harming the Innocent

The story of Eichmann highlights the importance of conscience. Anyone who blindly follows orders to harm the innocent would be eventually found guilty and held accountable, no matter how the perpetrators try to portray themselves as innocent followers of bad leaders.

Unfortunately numerous Chinese people have behaved like Eichmann since the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) took power in 1949. This is especially the case after the CCP began to suppress Falun Gong in July 1999. Because of their belief in the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance, a large number of Falun Gong practitioners have been detained, tortured, sentenced, and even killed for their organs.

Zhang Haitao, a judge from Jinshantun Court in Yichun City of Heilongjiang Province, sentenced 21 Falun Gong practitioners in 2002. Among them were Ms. Wang Liwen and Mr. Qin Yueming. Mr. Qin was sent to Jiamusi Prison, where the authorities launched a new round of intensified physical torture and mental abuse of practitioners in February 2011. Within two weeks, three practitioners lost their lives, including Mr. Qin. His body was kept in a freezer. He had bruises all over. His lips were purplish, his nose and mouth were bleeding, and his expression was painful. In addition, there was a large, reddish, swollen area behind the right side of his neck.

Chen Shuigen, deputy chief judge of Qingyunpu Court in Nanchang City, Jiangxi Province, sentenced Mr. Chen Xiangyang to 11 years and Ms. Zhang Shujun to 10 years. Both practitioners suffered tremendously in prison with their families torn apart by the persecution.

Serious Consequences

According to judges Zhang and Chen, there were just pawns of the CCP, and they did not have any other choice in sentencing practitioners to prison. In fact, they said they never beat practitioners or swore at them and they believed they were not guilty.

Nonetheless, the imprisonment, torture, and deaths of Falun Gong practitioners were a direct result of prison sentences imposed by judges and other perpetrators involved.

In traditional Chinese culture, it is generally believed that good and evil will receive their due retributions. In other words, actions bear consequences. Judges Zhang and Chen indeed met their fate even before legal consequences arrived.

Zhang went out to dine with someone on January 11, 2015. While he was talking in their car, he suddenly stopped talking. He was rushed to a hospital and died there.

Within one month of sentencing practitioners Mr. Chen and Ms. Zhang, judge Chen suddenly had a brain stem hemorrhage during a court adjournment. He soon died, at the age of 50.

In totalitarian regimes like the Nazis or the CCP, laws and orders can be manipulated to persecute the innocent. Only by following one’s conscience will a person make the right decision. Additionally, as the CCP has been destroying traditional values and endangering the world, Falun Gong and its principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is bringing hope for a better future.

It is therefore even more critical to stand on the right side when facing the battle between good and evil; otherwise, we could hurt others and harm ourselves.