(Minghui.org) Since May, more than 120,000 Falun Gong practitioners have filed lawsuits charging former dictator Jiang Zemin for launching the brutal persecution of Falun Gong. Many of the complaint letters were published on the Minghui website, prompting more and more practitioners who were victimized by the persecution to do the same.
In response, police in some areas have retaliated against practitioners. It was reported that local authorities from Jinchang, Gansu Province, to Harbin, Heilongjiang Province, (about 1800 miles away) have arrested practitioners for mailing their complaints.
Six Practitioners in Jinchang City Arrested; Five Detained
Post offices in Jinchang City began to check IDs and keep records of those who send letters to the Supreme People's Procuratorate and Supreme People's Court in Beijing on May 20.
On May 27 and 28, the Jinchang City Police Department and the Domestic Security Division sent plainclothes officers to different post offices within the district to gather information on practitioners who mailed complaints against Jiang Zemin.
Acting on orders from the Jinchang City Political and Legal Affairs Committee and the 610 Office, 6 Falun Gong practitioners who mailed complaints on May 30 were arrested. Five were placed under administrative detention.
Days later, agents from the 610 Office harassed several practitioners at their homes. One police officer threatened the supervisor of a practitioner's son and daughter.
Authorities in Harbin Withhold Complaints, Attempt to Arrest Practitioners
In the Shuangcheng District of Harbin, local authorities began to keep an eye on mail addressed to the Supreme Court and Supreme Procuratorate beginning in early June. By June 7, more than 20 letters of complaint against Jiang were reportedly withheld by the post office and handed over to the police.
The head of the Shuangcheng District post office gave orders to all post offices in towns and villages within its jurisdiction to reject all mail directed to the country's highest legal authority on June 8.
Practitioners had to go to post offices in Harbin and other neighboring districts to send their criminal complaints. Seven practitioners from Handian Town traveled to a post office in the Pingfang District on July 9 to mail their lawsuit.
A postal clerk accepted their letters and payment but did not issue a receipt. In some instances, she did not put a stamp on the express mail service receipts.
The next day when the practitioners called for a tracking number or went online to check the status of their letters, they discovered that their letters were not entered into the postal system. They learned afterwards that the clerk had given their letters to the authorities instead of mailing them.
Officials from Shuangcheng City 610 Office, Handian Town Police Station, and the Pingfang District tried to arrest these practitioners on July 11. That morning, three police cars carrying a dozen officers went to Hongyue Village in Handian Town. They ransacked Ms. Sun Defen's home and broke into Mr. Liu Qingyi's home. He was not present, so they went to his son's home but also failed to arrest him there.
The police then arrested Mr. Liu Qingjie and went to Ms. He Xiuzhi's home twice to arrest her. When they could not find her, they seized her personal belongings, including Falun Gong books.
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.
