A follower of the Falun Gong cult has shocked society by poisoning 17 innocent people, most beggars or vagrants, from May 25 to June 27 this year under the Falun Gong cult doctrines, according to a commentary to be carried in Tuesday's People's Daily.

By now more than 1,700 innocent people have been killed by Falun Gong cult followers in practicing the cult's doctrines of "clearing crimes committed in a previous life" or "complete oneself in this life" either by killing themselves or killing others.

Chen Fuzhao, a 29-year-old dermatologist from Cangnan County of Wenzhou City in Zhejiang Province, east China, was one of them.

Under his "master" Li Hongzhi's direction, Chen started killing, first dogs then human beings.

According to the heretical ideas of the Falun Gong cult, Chen believed killing could improve his own power to reach the ideal state advocated in the Falun Gong cult.

The crime once again showed that the cult still threatens society's stability and safety and the crimes once again ridicule the cult's so-called doctrines of "truth, kindness and tolerance," the commentary says.

The commentary calls on the people to remain vigilance against the Falun Gong cult and take effective measures to crack down on the illegal crimes organized by the cult to protect people's safety.

"When I was reading the doctrines on Feb. 17, I suddenly felt Master Li Hongzhi told me to do bad things, which though contrary to my usual practices, would help promote my power, " Chen said, "and I felt the bad things included killing, setting fires, and all the bad things are extremely good for our practices."

"I began killing mosquitoes, flies, then dogs and humans," Chen said.

With poisoned drinks, Chen killed 16 beggars and vagrants in streets and one Buddhist believer.

"Most people would not take my drinks, so I chose beggars and vagrants, " Chen said.

When asked how many people he wanted to kill, Chen answered he wanted to kill all human kind within one year.

Chen used to have a happy family before he was obsessed by the Falun Gong cult in 1996. "He was good-tempered and often chatted with me, but after he practiced Falun Gong, he talked little and was often seen sitting in bed murmuring with weird looks," Chen's mother said.

(People's Daily July 15, 2003)