(Minghui.org) A former government official is one of thousands of Falun Gong practitioners from inside and outside of China, who have filed a lawsuit against former Chinese dictator Jiang Zemin for his persecution of Falun Gong.
Jiang launched the brutal persecution of Falun Gong on July 22, 1999. Jiang claimed that Falun Gong would be thoroughly eradicated within three months. Instead, Falun Gong has spread to over 100 countries worldwide, and practitioners are seeking redress for being persecuted, through China's legal system.
Arrested, Detained, Forced Labor and Fired from Job
Falun Gong practitioner Mr. Zhang Minggui is a former official of Zhaipu Town from Tanghe County, Henan Province. He submitted his criminal complaint to the Supreme People's Procuratorate on July 24, 2015.
Mr. Zhang was arrested three times and detained for a total of more than five years. He was given two years of forced labor after his second arrest and was imprisoned three years after the third arrest. He was fired from his job and did odd jobs in Beijing to make ends meet.
Renounce Falun Gong or Be Imprisoned
Mr. Zhang wrote in his complaint that several policemen broke into and ransacked his home in July 1999. He said, “I was taken to a police station and asked to sign a statement to renounce Falun Gong. The police held me in the county detention center when I refused. I was forced to make medicine cartons for 14 hours daily and was given very little food during the 22 days of my detention.”
Two Years of Forced Labor
Police and town officials constantly harassed him after his release. He decided to go to Beijing to protest the persecution, but someone reported him to the police. Therefore, he was arrested in June 2000, held in the county detention center for six months, and forced to perform long hours of unpaid labor.
They demanded that he renounce Falun Gong, or he would not be released. He refused to cooperate and thus was put on short rations, that is, three spoonfuls of porridge daily for six months.
Then, he went on a hunger strike to protest his illegal detention. He wrote a letter to the authorities to complain about the food in the detention center. Therefore, police transferred him to Henan Third Forced Labor Camp in Xuchang City, where he was imprisoned for two years. Guards tried to brainwash him by bombarding him with slanderous propaganda against Falun Gong and forced him to make wigs.
He was fired by the town government upon his release and was denied back pay.
He worked in his family's restaurant and left home in November 2002 when three policemen showed up to arrest him.
Tortured in Police Custody and in the Detention Center
When he worked in Beijing, a woman reported him to the police after he gave her some Dafa informational materials in October 2004. Two plainclothes police arrested and beat him, and dragged him into a police van.
While he was in police custody, police slapped him and put an electric baton in his mouth.
They took him to the Tongzhou Detention Center, where he was viciously beaten. He went on a hunger strike to protest his unlawful detention and was force-fed. He was handcuffed and chained to his shackled feet for seven days.
In the detention center, there was not enough room for all to sleep in the cell, and everyone had to take turns sleeping. One could only use the toilet once a day for three minutes.
Original Three Year Prison Term Upheld
The Tongzhou District Court tried him in February 2005. The judge told him to renounce Falun Gong or be sentenced. He refused and was sentenced to three years in March 2005.
On appeal, he was tried in the Beijing Intermediate Court in April 2005. The judge hinted that he would be released if he gave false testimony, that is, that he was about to discard the Falun Gong materials he had on him when he was arrested. He refused and the judge upheld the original sentence.
He was transferred to the Tianhe Prison on May 17. Then, he was transferred to Henan Province Second Prison in the middle of the night, surrounded by armed police holding electric batons.
The guards attempted to brainwash him and failed, so they tortured him. He had to squat without moving from 7 a.m. to midnight for many days. The guards beat him because he refused to watch violent videos in November.
An official tried to talk him into giving up Falun Gong in July and October 2006 and promised a reduced sentence. He refused because he was innocent.
When he was scheduled to be released, on October 5, 2007, officials and a police chief from his hometown picked him up. He was put under house arrest because they did not want him to protest during the 17th Chinese Communist Party Congress. He was released on October 22.
Personal Life Turned Upside Down
Before the persecution, Mr. Zhang and his family lived a harmonious life.
He said in his complaint, “My mother was terrified by the authorities' constant harassment and is no longer in good health. My father-in-law's health deteriorated and he passed away. My son was frequently humiliated at school and eventually dropped out in the 7th grade. My wife was forced to give up the family restaurant because of the constant harassment. My son had to leave home at the age of 14 and went to Beijing to work as a security guard.”
Before Mr. Zhang became a practitioner, he was an alcoholic and a gambler. He was introduced to Falun Gong in September 1997. He read Zhuan Falun, the main book of Falun Gong, and completely changed. He soon quit smoking and drinking, and stopped gambling.
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.
