(Minghui.org) Many Falun Gong practitioners are now exercising their legal right to sue Jiang Zemin for initiating the persecution of Falun Gong and causing them great harm and tremendous suffering during the past 16 years.

The Minghui website receives copies of criminal complaints against Jiang that practitioners have 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.

In this report, we present a snapshot of some of the practitioners whose copies of lawsuits were received by Minghui on July 9, 2015.

Mr. Wu Yifeng (吴宜凤) (also known as 吴宜风)

Profession: Professor and Bridge Design SpecialistHometown: Changchun, Jilin Province

Key Facts: Mr. Wu was arrested on October 27, 2001, and detained in Tiebei Detention Center in Changchun until June 2003. He was then incarcerated in Jilin Prison. He was transferred to Siping Prison in February 2004 and released in November 2008.

During the time he was detained, he was severely tortured. He was shocked with electric batons, was restrained on a tiger bench, had his hands handcuffed behind his back, had his head covered with a plastic bag, and doused with cold water.

Current Situation: Mr. Wu is currently free.

Details of complaint in Chinese

Mr. Zhang Wenge (张文革)

Profession: ProfessorHometown: BeijingDate lawsuit filed: Late June

Key Facts: Mr. Zhang was arrested on April 24, 2000, for going to Tiananmen Square to appeal for Falun Gong in February. His dorm was ransacked. He was sentenced to one year of forced labor.

He was arrested again on September 19, 2003, and detained in a solitary cell in December.

His third arrest took place on May 20, 2008. He was sentenced to two and half years in prison, where he was shocked with electric batons, forced to absolutely sit on a stool, and deprived of sleep and use of a toilet (at times he was only allowed to go to once a day).

China Agriculture University fired him in 2005.

The persecution also caused his family great distress. His mother-in-law had a stroke in 2006 and his mother passed away in 2008.

Current Situation: He is currently free. His ability to urinate has been affected as a result of restricted toilet privileges in detention.

Details of complaint in Chinese

Ms. Qiu Cuixiang (邱翠香)

Hometown: ChongqingDate filed: June 15, 2015

Key Facts: Ms. Qiu was arrested on July 4, 2000, for telling a neighborhood community manager about Falun Gong. She was imprisoned in Maojiashan Forced Labor Camp in Chongqing for five months. She had to stand without a break for 18 hours.

She was arrested again on May 24, 2001, and held the same labor camp until January 2002. She was handcuffed behind her back, force-fed unknown substances, deprived of sleep, put in a solitary cell, beaten, and stripped.

Ms. Qiu's first lumbar vertebra was fractured due to torture. She was last arrested in July 2009 and put in a solitary cell for three months.

Current Circumstances: She is currently free.

Related Report(s)Chongqing City Maojiashan Women's Forced Labor Camp Hangs Up Dafa Practitioners by their Handcuffs for Extended Periods (Illustration)Curing the Sick, or Killing the Innocent? -- A Report of the Brutal Torment of Falun Gong Practitioners at Chongqing City's Maojiashan Women's Labor Camp (Photo)

Details of complaint in Chinese

Ms. Feng Huaqun (冯华群)

Hometown: ChongqingDate lawsuit filed: June 24, 2015

Key Facts: Ms. Feng Huaqun's son, Mr. Wang Hong, was a Falun Gong practitioner. He was cured of tuberculosis after practicing Falun Gong.

The police arrested Mr. Wang in March 2001. The detention center told Ms. Feng and her husband that their son would be released if they paid a fine, so Ms. Feng's husband brought 10,000 yuan to the detention center.

But the detention center didn't release their son after taking the money. Angry and upset, Ms. Feng's husband got sick and passed away shortly after, at the age of 49.

Mr. Wang was sentenced to four years in prison and wasn't allowed to attend his father's funeral.

Mr. Wang was arrested again in June 2011. He was sentenced to a year of forced labor and severely beaten in Xishanping Forced Labor Camp in Chongqing.

When he was released a year later, he couldn't walk normally. The 610 Office staff continued harass him, forcing him to leave home to go into hiding.

The police ransacked Ms. Feng's home on April 25, 2014, to search for Mr. Wang.

Current Circumstances: Ms. Feng is free. Her son, who has been arrested and tortured for practicing Falun Gong, is currently in hiding.

Details of complaint in Chinese

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 during 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.