(Minghui.org) Many Falun Gong practitioners are now exercising their legal right to sue Jiang Zemin for launching the persecution of Falun Gong and causing them great harm and tremendous suffering during the past 16 years. The momentum of this new wave of lawsuits against the former Chinese dictator is on the rise.

The Minghui website receives copies of criminal complaints against Jiang from many practitioners daily. In this report, we present a snapshot of some of the practitioners whose copies of lawsuits were received by Minghui on November 25 and 26, 2015.

These lawsuits are mailed to the Supreme People's Court and Supreme People's Procuratorate, which are required to process all criminal complaints filed by citizens, as of a recent ruling by the Supreme People's Court.

Ms. Zhou Ling (周玲)

Profession: UnknownHometown: Huaihua City, Hunan ProvinceDate filed: August, 2015

Key Facts

Ms. Zhou was detained twice, in March and July 2001, for practicing and speaking out for Falun Gong. She suffered broken ribs from a savage beating and, as she went on a hunger strike to protest the maltreatment, punitive force-feeding and shocking with electric needles.

At a military hospital in a Beijing suburb, she was injected unknown drugs that caused her eyesight to deteriorate, skin to blister all over, inability to walk on her own, and severe loss of memory. Later, she was sentenced to two years of forced labor and her term was extended by over eight months because she refused to give up her practice of Falun Gong.

Ms. Zhou was arrested by the local Huaihua City authorities and sentenced to three years in prison on May 27, 2008. She was locked up in the sixth ward of Hunan Province Women's Prison, where she was forced to undergo brainwashing, do hard labor, and suffer various forms of torture. She was handcuffed behind her back and deprived of sleep for days.

Years of persecution have not only caused severe physical and mental damage to Ms. Zhou, but also brought suffering to her family.

On her way to visit Ms. Zhou in prison, Ms. Zhou's mother, in her late 70's, was injured in a car accident on December 30, 2008. She suffered a broken arm and a dislodged shoulder. She now has a steel plate in her arm.

Ms. Zhou's parents and younger brother have been harassed and threatened constantly by the local 610 Office, police, and neighborhood committee. The family leaves home early in the morning and returns late in the evening just to have some peace and quiet in their lives.

Related Report(s)Firsthand Account: Ms. Zhou Ling Tortured in Hunan Women's Prison (Photos)Five Practitioners in Hunan Province Sentenced to Three to Seven Years of Imprisonment

Details of complaint in Chinese language

Ms. Zhang Jie (张杰)

Profession: Banker, Fuxin City Commercial BankHometown: Fuxin City, Liaoning ProvinceDate filed: 2015

Key Facts

Ms. Zhang, 51 years old, was repeatedly arrested and detained in 1999 and 2001 for speaking out against the persecution of Falun Gong in Beijing. The local authorities ordered her employer to demote her and force her to take unpaid leaves.

She was arrested along with other practitioners on September 18, 2002. Her personal belongings and nearly 10,000 Yuan in cash were confiscated by the local authorities. After ten months of detention, she was sentenced to 13 years in prison in July 2003. As she appealed the conviction and sentencing, she was told by the court that it was the Liaoning Province 610 Office that handed down the sentencing and nothing could be done to change it.

During her 13 years in Liaoning Province Women's Prison, she was forced to do hard labor and undergo brainwashing on a daily basis. As a result of the ill treatment, she suffered various illnesses, including uncontrollable shaking of her body, lumbar disc hernia syndrome, heart disease, and chronic bleeding from her nose and mouth. As she was not able to walk on her own, the prison authorities had inmates carry her in a small cart to the workshop to do hard labor.

Ms. Zhang's family suffered as well due to her practice of Falun Gong. Her younger brother's promised promotion was revoked. Her younger sister was fired by her employer, a local bank. Her father, in his late 70's and in poor health, had to travel a long way to visit her in prison.

Ever since her imprisonment, her husband had to raise their 11-year-old child on his own. Due to the government's redevelopment of the area, they were forced to move. Her husband suffered mentally as he struggled to raise enough money to purchase a new home. After years of hardship in life, her husband developed diabetes. He divorced Ms. Zhang in 2007 under tremendous pressure.

Their child was ridiculed and discriminated against constantly by the neighbors and peers in school. As the family could not afford the tuition for high school and college, the child enrolled in a vocational school after graduating from middle school.

Current Circumstances

Ms. Zhang has been fired by her employer and is unable to take care of herself as a direct result of the ill treatment in prison.

Details of complaint in Chinese language

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.