(Minghui.org) Mr. Ping Shouji from Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region recently filed a criminal complaint against former Chinese dictator Jiang Zemin. The 70-year-old retiree from Dushanzi City Petrochemical Company charges Jiang with initiating the persecution of Falun Gong that resulted in his broken family.

Mr. Ping's whole family credits Falun Gong for restoring their health and giving them a happy life. However, he, his wife, and his son were repeatedly arrested for refusing to give up their faith.

In particular, Mr. Ping and his son were both arrested again in early 2006, with the father given one and a half years of forced labor and the son given 46 days of detention. The younger Mr. Ping had been released barely six months earlier after a five-year incarceration, and his latest arrest became the straw that broke the camel's back. His wife divorced him and gained sole custody of their then-six-year-old daughter.

The elder Mr. Ping's pension was suspended shortly after his arrest in 2006, leaving his wife struggling both emotionally and financially. Her detention, her son's divorce, and losing her granddaughter only aggravated her pain. His wife's heart problems resurfaced, and she died a year later.

Below is Mr. Ping's personal account of what his family went through during the past 16 years since the persecution of Falun Gong began.

My Whole Family Benefited from Falun Gong

I once had many diseases and tried many cures, but none worked. In 1996, I learned Falun Gong, and soon all of my diseases were gone. When my wife, Fan Jilin, who was born in April 1950, witnessed my changes, she joined me in practicing Falun Gong. She also benefited. Later, my son, Ping Yuguo, who was born in 1971, also learned Falun Gong.

However, after the former Chinese dictator launched the persecution of Falun Gong in 1999, my whole family was imprisoned and tortured for our belief.

Detained for Exercising in Public

In October 2000, I went to a public park to do Falun Gong exercises. Wang Yuemei, the secretory of the local Political and Legal Affairs Committee, arrived and took away the exercise music player. She led local and Domestic Security police, broke into my home, and confiscated my books, computer, and other electronics.

My wife and I were detained in a conference room at the Domestic Security Division for eight days. They tried to brainwash us into giving up our belief. We would not give in and were sent to the Dushanzi Detention Center for 15 days. During the following year, we were under tight surveillance. We had to submit bail pending an appeal.

My son Yuguo was detained for 15 days by the Sha District Police Precinct in Urumqi (Wulumuqi) in 2000. He and his wife were fired from their jobs because he refused to give up his belief and had to move back to Dushanzi City.

Son Given Five Years for Appealing

Yuguo went to Beijing to appeal in October 2000, and my wife followed him a few days later. When my wife arrived at the appeals office and found it was closed, she went to Tiananmen Square and sat in meditation.

Police arrested her and took her to Dushanzi City Detention Center. She was later transferred to Wulabo Women's Forced Labor Camp for one year, where she was tortured. To avoid responsibility for my wife's deteriorating health as a result of torture, the labor camp granted her bail for medical treatment, but still required her to write a “thought report” once a month.

Yuguo was sent back to the Dushanzi Detention Center. After a year in detention, he was sentenced to five years at the Wulumuqi No.5 Prison, where he was forced to do hard labor.

Devastated by Our Detention, Wife Dies a Year Later

In October 2005, the 610 Office sent my wife and me to the Dushanzi Detention Center. My wife was released ten days later because of high blood pressure. I was detained until the Chinese New Year of 2006.

Soon after my release on the fourth day of Chinese New Year, Xu Shaojin, the chief of Dushanzi Domestic Security Division, broke into my home and tried to make me to sign a forced labor statement. I refused and said it did not matter if I signed or not.

I was sent to Jichang Forced Labor Camp for a year and a half. My pension was suspended.

My wife visited me once a month. One time, on her way to the labor camp, she talked to the taxi driver about the persecution of Falun Gong. He reported this to the labor camp, which then refused visitation privileges.

A few months later, in April 2006, my son was sent to the Dushanzi Detention Center for 48 days, with no visitation allowed. Under huge pressure, his wife divorced him.

These setbacks completely devastated my wife. She died on May 7, 2007.

My son and I were continually harassed by the 610 Office, Domestic Security police, and our local police precinct. We were forced to submit to brainwashing sessions every year.

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.