(Minghui.org) A total of 153 Falun Gong practitioners from Renqiu City, Hebei Province have filed criminal complaints against Jiang Zemin between May 24 and July 9, 2015, according to reports compiled by the Minghui website.
The practitioners charge the former Chinese dictator with initiating the brutal suppression of Falun Gong and hold him responsible for the tremendous suffering inflicted upon them by his campaign. The criminal complaints were mailed to the Supreme People's Court and Supreme People's Procuratorate.
Many of these practitioners recounted how Falun Gong returned them to health and gave them a new outlook on life. Their dream to live a healthier and happier life, however, was shattered when Jiang Zemin launched a nationwide campaign to eradicate the practice in 1999.
Simply for refusing to give up their belief, they were arrested, detained, tortured, and had their homes ransacked and personal belongings seized. Many also saw their families implicated for their belief, while some were also forced to pay huge fines.
Below, we profile a few of these practitioners:
Tortured in Labor Camp
Ms. Li Jingling (李静玲), 50, formerly worked at Huabei Petroleum. She was sent to a labor camp for three years and to prison for five years. She suffered all sorts of torture while in Tangshan City Kaiping Labor Camp: hanging from a tree, forced-feeding, deprivation of restroom use, and being forced to attend brainwashing sessions. While she was in Shijiazhuang Women's Prison, her daughter, then a high school junior, had a nervous breakdown after years of living in terror; she had to take a leave of absence for half a year.
Abused in Detention
Ms. Tian Meiying (田梅英), 63, stated in her lawsuit that she and her husband Liu Zhengguo (刘振国) both began practicing Falun Gong in 1997, after which her husband recovered from a severe stomach disease and heart problems. He was abused for 15 days in Renqiu Detention Center and was fined 2,000 yuan. The couple were harassed during days deemed “sensitive” by the communist government. The long-term persecution took its toll on her husband, and he passed away in May 2005.
Continued Police Harassment After Release
Ms. Xu Shengran (许胜然), 78, was released on bail in January 2014. She was later sentenced to three years in prison, with five years of probation. Prior to her latest arrest, the police raided her home in October 2013 while she visited out of town family. Her husband, who was home alone, was terrified and fell ill afterward. When she came home, the police interrogated her every 10 days.
Children Left Without Care
Ms. Chai Xiumei (柴秀梅) and her husband Chen Fenglei (陈风雷) were both imprisoned in October 2000. Their two underage children were left at home without care. After Ms. Chai was released a year later, her home was destroyed: there was a large hole in the ceiling, no electricity, and broken windows. Her sons, age 14 and 11, were disheveled beyond recognition. Mr. Chen was released in October 2005, only to be arrested again in June 2006 and sentenced to six years in prison.
Injured During Violent Arrest
Mr. Ma Kaihua (马开华), 59, a farmer, was severely injured when police broke into his home and attempted to arrest him. “It was August 2 around 2 a.m. I was sleeping on the rooftop because of the hot weather. The police broke into my house and climbed on top of the roof. They shocked me with an electric baton, and I fell down from the roof head first and passed out. I had brain stem bleeding in three places, and was kept in the ICU for over two weeks.”
Four months later, with his fracture not yet healed, the police attempted to arrest him again. His clothes were torn off. With bare feet and a broken arm, he yelled at the top of his lungs for help and managed to get away from the police.
Background
In 1999, Jiang Zemin, as head of the Chinese Communist Party, overrode other Politburo standing committee members and launched the violent suppression of Falun Gong.
The persecution has led to the deaths of many Falun Gong practitioners in the past 16 years. More have been tortured for their belief and even killed for their organs. Jiang Zemin is directly responsible for the inception and continuation of the brutal persecution.
Under his personal direction, the Chinese Communist Party established an extralegal security organ, the “610 Office,” on June 10, 1999. The organization overrides police forces and the judicial system in carrying out Jiang's directive regarding Falun Gong: to ruin their reputations, cut off their financial resources, and destroy them physically.
Chinese law allows for citizens to be plaintiffs in criminal cases, and many practitioners are now exercising that right to file criminal complaints against the former dictator.
